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DR. L. W. KN 



The Breeding and Rearing 

of - _ 

Jacks, Jennets and Mules. 




-*Y 



L. W. KNIGHT, M.D. 



Nashville, Tenn.i 

I^he Cumberland Press, 

1902. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Tww Copies Received 

^EB 23 190/ 

*~ Copyright Entry 
rMr, ? '10 2,, 
CUSS /\ XXC, No. 

COPY B. 



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Copyright in name of J. M. Knight, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
1902. 






PREFACE. 



Realizing the constantly growing demand for mules 
in the United States, as well as other countries, I have 
been induced to write a book in my old and declining 
years on the subject of breeding and rearing jacks 
and jennets as well as mules. I know of no literature 
on the subject of breeding jacks and jennets, and 
very little on the mule, which I regard as the best 
animal for the Southern and tropical climates. I have 
written this book without notes, and entirely from, 
memory, for the benefit of the young stock f armers x 
who are, or will be hereafter engaged in this line of 
business. I am aware there are many imperfections; 
in the book, which I trust a generous public will 
excuse under the circumstances. The Author, 



Breeding and Rearing of Jacks, 
Jennets and Mules. 



SECTION FIRST. 

God in his infinite wisdom and goodness has given 
unto us three great kingdoms, viz. : the Animal, Vege- 
table and Mineral. He has given us dominion over 
them and if we expect to make them profitable we 
have to study them and cultivate them to make them 
valuable so that we may get our revenue from them. 
Having had long experience in the developing of the 
animal kingdom, especially the jack and jennet stock 
and valuable mule, I thought perhaps I could make 
some suggestions and give my experience for over 
three-fourths of a century in handling this stock. 

Having been favorably impressed, especially since 
the termination of the Spanish-American war, with 
the great importance of opening up a trade with the 
many tropical islands, viz. : Cuba, Porto Rico, Philip- 
pine and Caroline and Hawaii Islands, the question 
presents itself to my mind, How are those fertile coun- 
tries to be supplied with suitable stock to cultivate 
them? They are coming under the jurisdiction of the 
government of the United States. May we not in- 
clude Africa, which in a few years may be open as a 
market for our mules? Where can they get their 
supply from? Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, 
and, perhaps, a few other states. Now, to supply this 
great demand we have to make the preliminary ar- 



6 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

rangements, hence we will have to increase our jack 
and jennet stock. We cannot have mules without 
jacks, neither can we have jacks without jennets. So, 
they are the basis or foundation for mules. The 
United States has scarcely enough mules to supply her 
own demands. The English government has within 
recent date, shipped from New Orleans and other 
places thousands of mules to Africa for army pur- 
poses, and is still shipping them. 

The demand is growing every year in the United 
States for mules, as the railroads are being developed 
in all parts of our country, opening the great forests 
and the lumber trade as well as the various minerals, 
as gold, silver, iron, lead, coal and phosphate; and 
oil is being found in various parts of our country. 
As the great internal resources are developed so will 
the demand for stock be increased. It may be stated 
as a fixed fact that as long as sugar, cotton and rice 
will grow in the South, there will be a demand for 
mules. No animal can supersede the mule for the 
tropical climate. 

SECTION SECOND. 

Having been appointed by the Executive Committee 
of the "J ac k Stock Stud Book of America," I have 
given a brief history of the early breeders of jacks 
and jennets in the United States as far as could be 
ascertained, and have also given a history of all the 
late importations as far as could be learned, from one 
of the largest importers, who has made eight trips to 
Europe and has had more experience than any im- 
porter of jacks and jennets in America. I allude to 
Mr. Wm. H. Goodpasture, who was also Secretary 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 7 

of the "American Jack Stock Stud Book Associa- 
tion. " He and his lamented father, Judge Good- 
pasture, together made more and larger importations 
than any other parties with whom I am acquainted. 
Their eight importations have been worth millions 
of dollars to the United States. Mr. Wm. H. Good- 
pasture has written a very accurate description of 
the different breeds of jacks that are used in Spain, 
Italy and France, and the different islands of the 
Mediterranean Sea, particularly Malta and Majorca. 
His description of each species is so full and accurate, 
that it would be superfluous for me to repeat, or try 
to improve on them. I have had through the courtesy 
of both the original secretary, Mr. Wm. H. Good- 
pasture, and the present secretary, Mr. J. L. Jones, 
Jr., of Columbia, Tenn., the privilege of using such 
articles in the "American Jack Stock Stud Book" as 
would be of special interest in furthering the cause 
and development of the jack breeders of the United 
States. We find but little literature on the subject of 
breeding and rearing jacks and jennets in our country. 
Hence, we think some one who has had varied experi- 
ence in breeding and rearing this stock in the United 
States should give additional information. 

I was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 
1816, and when about four years of age I remember 
that my father, the late Captain James Knight, owned a 
Diomeed stallion and a jack. He placed me on the 
jack's back and led him into a wheat field to graze 
him. This was about the year 1820. Early in the 
twenties my father moved to Middle Tennessee and 
settled in the Southern part of Rutherford County, 
where I was reared. 



8 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

He was born in Sussex County, Virginia, about 
the year 1793. My grandfather, Captain Doak, was 
an officer in the Revolutionary War. When the war 
ended the government of the United States did not 
have money to pay the officers for their services and 
many were paid in scrip. My grandfather and a cousin 
of his, named Doak Hanna, brought their scrips to 
Rutherford County, in Middle Tennessee, and each 
one of them entered a thousand acres of land in the 
beautiful valley lying between Marshall's and Lee's 
knobs. The Murfreesboro and Shelbyville pike runs 
through this valley eight miles south of Murfreesboro. 
My mother was a daughter of Captain James Doak, and 
inherited a part of the one thousand acre tract of land. 

I remember the first sucking mule I ever saw was 
foaled on my father's farm and he sold it at weaning 
and it brought a better price than horse colts did at 
the same age. This made a lasting impression on my 
mind, and I have often observed since that those who 
would buy young mules at weaning or at an early 
age and grow them properly and have a good lot to 
sell every year were generally prosperous stock farm- 
ers and would, from time to time, be able to buy their 
neighbor's land and perhaps sow it down in grass 
and make the fences mule proof ; and in the course of 
a short time the growth of their mules and enhance- 
ment in value would make the owner a handsome 
capital. 

Some time in the thirties I remember my father 
visited General Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory) who 
was noted for his love of fine horses and had won a 
wagon load of negroes from ex-Governor Cannon at 
Clover Bottom race track. The General, in speaking 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 9 

to my father in regard to raising mules, said to him, 
the finer the mare the finer the mule. The same will 
also apply to the jack. 

Some time in the thirties my father went to Bruns- 
wick County, Virginia, and purchased a very fine black 
jack with white nose and belly. He was said to have 
been the third descendant of the Royal Gift to Gen. 
George Washington after the Revolutionary War. I 
have made reference to the Royal Gift in my essay on 
"Reminiscences," written in the American Jack Stock 
Stud Book, giving a history of the early breeders of 
jacks and jennets as well as all of the importations 
made in the United States except the last, which was 
made by my son, James M. Knight (who lives at 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., and made the last importation 
in 1893). I have requested him and my son, William 
E. Knight, who resides at Nashville, Tenn., and who 
has made three trips to Europe to purchase jacks and 
jennets, to write a history of their travels and pur- 
chases for this book. They are both engaged in 
handling that stock at their respective homes, Mur- 
freesboro and Nashville. Their sale stables are easy 
of access at their places of abode. They both made 
a trip to Europe with Mr. Roth, who was a native 
of Hungary, and who could speak a number of lan- 
guages. When he was with either of them no inter- 
preter was needed. I heard J. M. Knight say he 
never knew Mr. Roth to meet a man on land or sea 
with whom he could not converse. I think he told 
me he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean about thirty- 
five times and had traveled over various parts of 
Europe. It has been the custom of most of the Ameri- 
cans that have gone to Spain, France or Italy to pur- 



IO BREEDING AND REARING OF 

chase jacks and jennets to get an interpreter who 
could speak Spanish, French or Italian, and they also 
had to have a man that was acquainted with the coun- 
try where the stock could be found ; besides, it was 
necessary to procure a vehicle and team to hunt up 
this stock. Hence, you see what an amount of money 
it requires for a stock dealer to visit those countries 
and have so much expense attached to his finding and 
purchasing stock, paying hotel bills and traveling. 
After the stock has been found and purchased, per- 
haps it is scattered over a great extent of territory, 
and has to be concentrated and gotten to a shipping 
point. And even then, the interpreter must be kept 
until the stock is put on board of ship. Now, after 
the stock is put on board of ship, they require vigilant 
attention. Sometimes when placed in the hull, where 
they cannot get sufficient pure air, they are liable to 
suffer and die for the want of it ; or if they are placed 
on upper deck, and the sea is rough and tempestuous, 
as is the case in a severe storm, and the ship nearly 
covered with the raging waves, the stock, in that case, 
is in great danger of being washed overboard ; but 
when the sea is calm, the deck passage is more favor- 
able. 

About the year of 1853 or 1854 I owned a very 
superior jack called Monarch. He was a gray, about 
fifteen hands high, horse measure ; was sired by my 
jennet jack Maringo Mammoth. His dam was by 
Hon. Henry Clay's imported Don Callous, of Ken- 
tucky. He proved to be a superior breeder for both 
mares and jennets. I was able to stand him at $10 
for mares and $20 for jennets. He was considered 
then the best and most valuable jack in Rutherford 






JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES II 

County, Tennessee. I was doing a large business with 
him when the Civil War commenced in 1861, and con- 
tinued to do business with him until the fall of 1862, 
when the Federal and Confederate armies were fight- 
ing at Richmond and Perryville, Ky. I had a public 
stock sale and sold some jacks, horses, mule colts, hogs 
and other stock, believing that either army was liable 
to take my stock if they needed them. I lived in the 
southern part of Rutherford County, Middle Ten- 
nessee, where both armies concentrated at Murfrees- 
b>oro and where was fought one of the heavy battles 
of the war (Stone's River or the battle of Murfrees- 
boro). This jack, Monarch, was sold at my sale 
at $900. I was offered by Esq. Lane, of Walker 
County, Georgia, $1,000 in gold for this jack a few 
days before he was two years old. I had bought a 
farm and had commenced preparing for stock farming ; 
was satisfied that I could make a good jack pay me 
better to keep him and buy up his mule colts at wean- 
ing or yearlings. I bought good bone fillies and bred 
them to my jack. When they got with foal they would 
grow and spread and enhance in value when I could 
sell them for good profits or swap them for good 
young mules and sell the mules. So you perceive I 
was making the jack's services pay me as well as en- 
hancing the value of my young brood mares by getting 
them with foal, and by buying the young mules he 
would produce in the neighborhood. All of which 
were fruitful sources of revenue. Besides I was im- 
proving my soil and enhancing the value of my farm. 
I have long since learned that it is the growth and 
enhancement of a man's property that makes him his 
capital. How rarely we see a man who works for 



12 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

standing wages and doing hard, muscular labor that 
ever makes more than a scant living. But for a man 
to prosper, he must generally have something growing,, 
something enhancing in value, or increasing in num- 
bers, when he is asleep or resting. His muscle alone 
will not do to depend on. It will fail him in a few 
years. If he does not prepare something for his old 
and declining years he is apt to be brought to want 
or thrown on the cold charities of the world. 

I do not know of a better plan for a young man 
who expects to make stock farming his occupation 
than to get him a farm with good running water that 
lasts the year round. Then put his land in such 
grasses that suit his soil. He should study his soil 
and be sure that his grasses are well adapted to the 
land he is using it on. For instance : Blue grass and 
clover require a great deal of lime in the soil for them 
to flourish. They will not do well in sandy land, but 
orchard grass and herd's grass will grow on sandy 
soil. Herd's grass does very well on low or damp soil. 
A man to stock farm properly should be a good judge 
of land as well as a good judge of stock. If he is not, 
he should advise with some one who has had experi- 
ence on the subject. Most men of experience will 
take pleasure in advising with a young man wanting 
information. The soil is a compound like a man's 
blood, has a variety of ingredients and can be changed 
or modified as circumstances may require, and it be- 
hooves the farmer to study the nature both of his- 
stock and soil. It should be remembered that a stock 
farmer has an opportunity of improving his lands 
while he is growing his stock; what they eat is put 
back on the soil. So, it seems that God intended that 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 13 

the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom should 
go together. 

SECTION THIRD. 

Some years before the Civil War I visited the blue 
grass regions of Kentucky and found the farmers had 
nearly all of their lands down in grass. They kept, 
perhaps, two fields — one for corn and another for 
wheat — and a garden; the balance all in blue grass. 
I thought they, as a people, had more time for social 
enjoyment than any farmers I had ever seen. When 
we would call at a man's house to look at stock, after 
showing his own he would propose taking us to see 
his neighbors'. We found the Kentuckians very hos- 
pitable and generous. They did not appear to be en- 
vious or jealous of each other like some people en- 
gaged in the same business. If they had animals that 
had blemishes that were not perceptible they would 
point them out to you. A stock breeder cannot afford 
to sell blemished stock without making it known ; he 
will be more damaged by it than the purchaser. 

Our lands during the days of slavery had been cul- 
tivated in cotton, until the soil was very much ex- 
hausted, and was needing a change to small grain 
and grass, with more and better stock, in order to re- 
suscitate them and make them more remunerative. 

During one of my visits to Kentucky with my 
brother, the late Gen. J. M. Knight, for the purpose 
of attending the fairs and looking at the different kinds 
of stock, with a view of making purchases for the 
benefit of our own section of country, Middle Ten- 
nessee (Murfreesboro was our home at that time), 
after visiting the best blue grass regions of Ken- 
tucky, and seeing the most improved stock of that 



H 



BREEDING AND REARING OF 



state, we were more impressed with the importance 
of changing our mode of farming in our own state, 
especially in Middle Tennessee. So after consulting 
quite a number of the most enterprising farmers, we 
agreed that the best plan to bring about a change in 
our mode of farming would be to get up an agri- 
cultural fair in our own county (Rutherford). The 
day was appointed to have a mass meeting and or- 
ganize for the purpose of establishing a permanent 
county fair. 

The citizens of my old county did me the honor of 
electing me president by acclamation. All the other 
officers were elected. The secretary, Capt. Darragh, 
who was originally from Kentucky, and I were ap- 
pointed by the Board of Directors to visit the north- 
ern part of Tennessee and Kentucky and select the 
most approved, modern models for an amphitheater 
and pagoda. In our travels we procured a gentleman 
who had built five or six amphitheaters in his own state 
(Kentucky), who came over and built ours, which is 
now standing on the Murfreesboro and Shelbyville 
turnpike about one and one-half miles from the public 
square of Murfreesboro, and one hundred and fifty 
yards from the station on the Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga Railroad. We have had a number of successful 
fairs at this place, and believe it has been the means 
of encouraging the farmers of our county and the 
adjoining ones to improve their stock of different 
kinds, as well as improving their lands. Thus the 
great object of our fairs is to improve our domestic 
animals, as well as the products of the field and 
garden ; also the handiwork of the ladies in the fine 
arts and their culinary department, as well as the 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 1 5 

improvement in agricultural implements, etc. As the 
citizens of my county did me the honor of placing me 
at the head of the executive department of the Agri- 
cultural Association, I felt I was under obligations to 
them to exert myself to the utmost of my ability in 
doing all I could to introduce such stock as would 
promote the best interests of the association. I made 
it a point to visit Kentucky and attend the most popu- 
lar fairs of that state and make myself familiar with 
their best modes of conducting their fairs. I also 
visited some of the largest annual stock sales, such 
as R. A. Alexander's, Suddith's, Grooms', and Van- 
meter's. I also examined the renowned shorthorn 
herd of Mr. Abram Reneck. I succeeded in purchas- 
ing some fine stock that was quite an accession to my 
county. More than one generation has passed since 
this stock was introduced, but its effects can be seen 
now. 

These agricultural fairs when properly conducted 
are calculated to improve the country in many re- 
spects. We have thought that there was too much 
partiality shown the speed rings. Instead of giving 
them such large premiums we should give them less, 
and increase the premiums to those who are engaged 
in raising the best specimens of corn, wheat, oats, rye, 
barley, cotton and such products of the farm as are 
of the greatest interest to the general farmer. We are 
in favor of giving liberal premiums to the animal king- 
dom, such as horses, mules, jacks and jennets, swine, 
sheep, cattle and fowls. The ladies' department in 
the floral hall should, too, receive proper encourage- 
ment. Those who generally take the premiums in the 
speed rings are not usually farmers, but make a 



l6 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

specialty of training for speed alone, and should go to 
organized race courses. t 

SECTION FOURTH. 

The different breeds of jacks have been given by my 
friend, W. H. Goodpasture, with a good deal of care. 
He is the most competent gentleman with whom I am 
acquainted to perform that task, having seen and 
handled nearly all classes of that stock. 

Now it will be my -purpose to give instruction as 
to the proper care of jacks and jennets while they 
are engaged in business. I am satisfied that the ma- 
jority of grooms allow their jacks and stallions to 
do too much business in a day. My rule is to limit 
them to two services a day, that is, in twenty-four 
hours, and the time should be properly divided, one 
service in the morning and the other, in the evening. 
I never allow my stock to do business on the Sabbath 
day. 

A great deal of an animal's service is wasted by 
allowing a jack or stallion to serve a mare or jennet 
when not in proper season or heat ; and when they are 
served they should not be allowed to remain about 
the stable, but carried away where they will not see 
or hear a jack bray. I would prefer breeding to an 
animal that was limited in his service. I think if one 
of those peddling stud horse men that travels on a 
circuit and allows his horse or jack to serve a number 
of times in a day, going from one stand to another, 
should succeed in foaling, the progeny will be so weak 
and feeble that they will have to be held up to let 
them suck. I do not think colts produced under such 
circumstances ever make strong, serviceable animals. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 17 

I have observed where boars or rams that have been 
allowed to run at large, and are overworked that a 
boar will produce a number of small and runty pigs, 
and rams will produce the same kind of lambs. Many 
of them will die where they are lambed. Hence, I 
think male animals should be properly limited in their 
services. 

I remember a conversation with Major Bacon, of 
South Carolina, while attending state fairs at Macon, 
Ga., in 1873, and at Atlanta in 1874, at which places 
he won the two mile races with the celebrated race 
horse Granger, which was also known as Wade Hamp- 
ton. (I will state I also took premiums with my jades 
and jennets, Berkshire hogs and Devon bull at Macon, 
Ga., in 1873 ; and at Atlanta in 1874 with my jacks and 
jennets, Berkshire hogs and Durham bull.) Major 
Bacon was a very successful sportsman. He remarked 
to me that the reason why the famous race horses did 
not produce more racers like themselves was that they 
were allowed to serve too many mares during the 
season, and stated he did not want his retired horses 
he had to farm out to serve more than twenty-five 
mares in one season to produce race horses. Some 
horses are allowed to go to over one hundred mares 
in one season. I think the same rule or principle will 
apply to all male animals. 

I am writing this book in my eighty-sixth year of 
age, and for the benefit of the young and inexperi- 
enced stock farmers and breeders, and I am sure they 
will excuse my plain, practical, unpretending style. 
My object is to give my experience and observation. 
I am aware that I am making many digressions from 
my main subject, but my apology is to illustrate some 
2 



l8 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

practical truth that I hope may be of interest to my 
young readers. 

I remember a very noted trotting stallion that stood 
at Nashville, Tenn., at $100 per mare. He did a very 
large business and I think he served the best class of 
trotting mares, and if he ever produced over a very 
few extra winners I never knew them. Blackwood 
ranked among the first-class trotting stallions of his 
day. I think he was over-taxed with business. 

I think it best to have a stallion to tease for a jack 
that is used for mares. Some mares are afraid of 
jacks and will not show sign of being in heat. Hence 
it is best to have a stallion as a teaser. Now from 
experience and observation I think that after a mare 
has been bred she ought not to be taken back until 
the tenth day to try her. Should she appear to be 
ill do not have her teased much, but after she has 
refused once, she may be coaxed more the second or 
third time. While I am writing more for the interest 
of the breeders of jacks and jennets, I wish to state 
just here that I have found that plowing mares in 
rocky or rooty ground while breeding is injurious. 
Would advise, that if the mares are to be plowed, let 
them be used in old land, clear of roots and rocks, 
and use mules or geldings in their stead until you 
have them safely in foal. Mares when breeding and 
having to be worked in rough, rooty or rocky ground, 
cast off a great deal when jerked by the hitching of 
the plow, etc., and have known men fail to get colts 
under such circumstances. Neither should they be 
allowed to run on white or red clover in bloom or 
rye at this time. Another important point I wish to 
call the attention to is, after a mare or jennet foals, 



I 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 19 

the mares are apt to come in heat about the seventh 
or eighth day ; should you fail to breed them then, and 
they go out of heat, they sometimes do not come in 
while nursing or suckling their colt. Jennets usually 
come in heat later, about the twelfth or fourteenth 
day, and if you fail to breed them then you may not 
have an opportunity of breeding while she is nursing 
her colt. So you see how important it is to keep a 
record of the breeding of your mares and jennets. 
After the colts are weaned and the mare or jennet 
becomes entirely dry, if they are well cared for and 
put in a thriving condition they are apt to come in 
heat in a few days. Hence how important it is to 
breed at the right time and not lose several months of 
the proper breeding season. 

You will remember that a mare goes eleven months, 
and if she is a very old mare and has had a number 
of colts, will often go over her regular time. I have 
known a jennet to exceed their twelve months, espe- 
cially if it is advanced in age and has brought a num- 
ber of colts. I want to call the attention of owners 
of jennets to the great importance of keeping a close 
watch over them at the time they are due to foal. 
They should be kept away from other stock, and if 
the weather is unfavorable, they ought to be placed in 
a foaling stable of good size, say from twelve by 
fifteen feet, and sawdust or short straw for the jennet 
to lie on. If the straw should be long the colt may 
get tangled in it. 

When the time is due for the jennet to foal she 
should be noticed, and if at night and she is found 
restless and showing signs of labor, the groom should 
go to the stable with a lantern and stay with the jennet 



20 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

until her labor is over and the colt is able to get up 
and suck. Then the groom may retire. Sometimes 
jennets have inflamed udders and are sore and tender. 
When that is the case they will not allow the colt to 
suck, but kick and bite the colt, and it will starve if 
not looked after properly. When this is the case the 
jennet will have to be milked carefully and the udder 
bathed in warm salt water to keep the bag from rising. 
I have known jennets to bite off the tails of their colts. 
I think when the jennet has an undue amount of 
milk in her bag, and it threatens to rise, she should 
be milked some before she foals. Some jennets give 
great quantities of milk. It is a good plan not to 
give much stimulating food before she is due to foal, 
and not have her too fat. When the colt is born, it 
sometimes has the membrane over its head and nos- 
trils, and if it is not torn and removed, it will smother 
the colt. How important it is then that a competent 
groom should be present and remove the trouble. 
Then again there may be a malformation or a wrong 
presentation of the colt; the feet may be presented 
instead of the head. In this instance the feet must 
be reduced, that is pushed back, and the head brought 
forward. If you have a fine and valuable jennet, and 
you have such complications, would advise you to have 
a veterinary surgeon called in. It is now and then 
that the navel cord is tough and does not give way 
or break. If it is pulsating after the colt is born, it 
should be tied with a silk or flax thread, and then 
cut three or four inches from the navel. Jack colts are 
liable to have trouble with the navel, same as a child 
— a disease called trismus, a species of lockjaw, which 
I never saw in a child (and practiced medicine from 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 21 

thirty-five to forty years), but have seen it in a jack 
colt, and never knew one to recover. The colt will 
throw its ears on his neck and appear to have little 
or no use of himself, and will linger from three to 
seven days and die. My opinion is the navel cord has 
been the principal cause of the trouble; i. e., the pull- 
ing or irritating of the nerves connected with the 
navel. 

The jack stock is very tender when young, and 
should have vigilant attention. I know of no stock 
that pays a man better than the first-class stock of 
this character. I have known of some jennets that 
have brought their owners as high as ten thousand 
dollars worth of stock. 

I trust I will be pardoned for another digression. 
I want to relate a circumstance that occurred in Ken- 
tucky to a gentleman by the name of Knox, who 
lived in Boyle County, near Danville, Ky. His 
father gave him fifty acres of land to start him in 
business; he commenced raising corn and hogs, and 
succeeded in that business very well, for that kind 
of occupation. He said some years he had cholera 
among his hogs and they would die. Then when they 
had drouth, the corn crop failed, so then he had hogs 
and no corn, and when the cholera killed his hogs, he 
had corn and no hogs. He became discouraged. He 
had a neighbor who had two jennets over medium 
size and quality; he bred them to the best jennet jacks 
in the country, and was lucky to get jack colts. They 
were well nursed. The owner had two small blue 
grass lots where he kept his jennets and colts and 
would change them from one to the other as was neces- ' 
sary. When the jack colts became able to consume 



22 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

all of their dams' milk, he would give them warm 
milk from a cow, and at weaning time they were of 
fine size, looking well. He succeeded in selling them 
for $500, each, making $1,000 a year. Major Knox 
saw what his old neighbor was doing, and went to 
consult his father, and he told his son that he was 
doing very well, and he thought it was well enough to 
let well enough alone. But Major Knox said that 
the old man who owned the jennets was doing nothing 
but smoke his pipe and feed the jennets and caress 
the colts, while he (Knox) and a negro man he had 
hired to help him make corn and raise hogs, were 
beaten so badly in making money that he would act 
contrary to his father's advice. So he bought two 
jennets that he thought a little superior to his neigh- 
bor's. He also bred them to the best jennet jack he 
could find. The Major was succeeding finely when 
the Civil War came on in 1861. He had succeeded in 
selling $10,000 worth of jack and jennet stock in one 
year, and had increased his farm from fifty to one 
hundred and fifty acres, and his land then worth $150 
per acre. He made the jack and jennet stock a 
specialty, taking premiums wherever he showed his 
stock. Never overstocking himself, he did not have 
more stock than he could keep in first-class order. 
So when a customer would call to see his stock he 
could show to the best advantage. I remember visit- 
ing his farm on one occasion when the Major was 
absent, but his interest was well represented by his 
most excellent wife. She had the groom to lead the 
stock up to the yard and had them shown to the best 
advantage. She was familiar with the merits of the 
stock and nothing was lost by the owner's being 
absent. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 23 

I think it wisdom for a man not to keep more stock 
than he can keep well. Stock farmers often lose by 
having more animals than they can do justice to. He 
may have fine, well-bred animals, but if he has neg- 
lected them and a customer calls to see them an un- 
favorable impression is made on his mind and he goes 
home without making a purchase. Now you see the 
fault is in the owner and not in the stock. 

If my memory serves me correctly, I was shown 
one of Major Knox's premium jennets that he rated 
at $2,000. The year that he sold $10,000 worth of 
jacks and jennets, one of the animals was a three-year- 
old jack he called Black Mammoth that my old friend, 
Robert Rains, of Nashville, Tenn., bought especially 
for a jennet jack. He was a very superior animal and 
made his mark in Middle Tennessee. Black Mam- 
moth was a half-brother to my jennet jack, Maringo 
Mammoth. I think Mr. Rains stood his jack at $40 
per jennet. That was what I stood my jack at. I am 
sure I could get competent stockmen who would testify 
to the best of their belief that Maringo Mammoth and 
his progeny have been worth to Tennessee $100,000. 
It is hard to estimate the value of a No. 1 jennet jack 
that is producing jacks selling from $1,000 to $3,000, 
and his jennets $500, frequently, and upwards. One 
of my neighbors owned a jennet not exceeding four- 
teen hands high that brought him $10,000 worth of 
jacks and jennets. I believe the jennet is still living. 
She was the property of the late H. C. Ezell, of 
Davidson County, Tennessee (Old Ann is the name). 

When I first knew Mr. H. C. Ezell, which was fifteen 
or sixteen years ago, he was engaged in farming on a 
small scale. He farmed jacks on the shares from 



24 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

Mr. Robert Rains, to stand for mares. Soon after he 
purchased the jennet just alluded to and bred her to 
a jack that he afterwards owned, called Starlight, Sr. 
It was from this stock that he had such wonderful suc- 
cess. The Starlights became a very popular breed 
of jacks, and justly so. At the deceased sale of Mr. 
H. C. Ezell there were a large number of jacks and 
jennets sold which brought to the estate many thou- 
sands of dollars — all produced through the jack stock 
with his great energy, his vigilance and his good man- 
agement. I think any young man can meet with the 
same success with the same amount of energy and 
good judgment. This great success was accomplished 
on a small farm. We think one of the secrets of his 
success was to keep the best of his stock at home 
where his customers could see them, and he would buy 
up his jacks' best colts and was able to sell them for 
a prospective value. Mr. Ezell kept a few of his best 
jacks and jennets and would show them at the stock 
fairs and was very successful in his exhibition. 

We think it a good rule where a stock breeder is 
able, to keep a number of good animals at his stable 
so that his customers can be accommodated in breed- 
ing their mares and jennets at one stand. Where there 
is only one jack and one stallion, perhaps they may 
be crowded and they will turn off their customers for 
two or three days, and by that time perhaps the mare 
or jennet may have gone out of heat. Should they be 
nursing a colt they may not come in heat again while 
they are nursing, and the owner of the mare or jennet 
may lose the best of the breeding season. One groom 
can care for several jacks and a stallion. The French 
keep several animals at one stand, so they can always 
supply the demands of their patrons. 



JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MULES 25 

SECTION FIFTH. 

When a jennet has nursed her colt six months, and 
is in foal, the colt ought to be weaned. If a jennet is 
allowed to suckle her colt unduly long and she is in 
foal, the one she is carrying is liable to be made a 
dwarf. I have known this to be done. Where a man 
has a very promising jack colt that is growing fast, 
and he has every reason to believe he will make a fine 
show animal, and he wants to take him to the fairs, 
it is a great inducement to have the colt suck until the 
fairs are over, hoping to take premiums with him. I 
want the young reader to remember when this is done 
he is damaging the fetus the jennet is carrying. When 
we wish to prepare a colt for the fair, and want to 
give it every advantage, it is best not to breed the 
jennet that year, and let the jack colt nurse until he 
is a year old or over. When a jack colt is allowed 
to run with a herd until he is a year old and has be- 
come well developed he is liable to become spoiled by 
being with jennets coming in heat, and may become 
so much enamored with them that he will have a 
strong partiality for his own species over mares. I 
have heard of jack colts running with their dams until 
they would get them with foal. This inbreeding of 
stock will bring about malformation and impair the 
constitution. 

I cannot impress too strongly on young stock breed- 
ers the great importance of vigilant care in rearing 
young jacks. They must be kept where they cannot 
see or smell jennets until they are w T ell broken or 
trained to serve mares properly. I allude to mule 
jacks. I once owned a jack that was partial to mares, 
and would not serve jennets without a mare was 



26 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

brought before him, and let him get ready to serve 
a mare before he would serve a jennet. I well remem- 
ber one of our imported Catalonia three-year-old jacks 
that I had broken to serve mares and by accident a 
jennet that was in heat broke out of her lot and came 
to the lot where this jack (Tennessee Giant, for that 
was his name) was. She stood by the gate with open 
slats where the jack could smell her all night. The 
jack did not get to serve her, but he became so much 
enamored with her that it ,was some time before we 
could get him to serve mares again. He was sixteen 
hands high, black and with white points. He was 
strictly a jennet jack. We rated him at $2,000. It 
has been our custom to first train our jennet jacks to 
serve mares before they are broken to serve jennets. 
Some times we want our jennet jack to serve a few 
mares when he is not engaged with jennets. So we 
think it best to break them to serve both mares and 
jennets, even where you expect to make jennets almost 
a specialty. 

As long as I have been in the jack and jennet busi- 
ness I have known but few breeders who have not 
reared some jacks that were spoiled in their raising by 
allowing them to associate with their own species too 
long when colts. When this is the case the value of 
the jack is reduced to about one-half of a mule jack. 
So you will readily see how important it is for a 
breeder to keep his jack colts away from jennets or 
even mules, and let them be put with fillies about their 
own age and continue with them until the jack colt 
becomes too rough for the filly colt. When the jack 
colt is associated with a filly he becomes attached to 
her and when he becomes about twenty or twenty- 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 2^ 

four months old, and is well matured for that age, 
he might be permitted to serve a mare. In breaking 
the jack colt you should be very careful and not allow 
him to be kicked or bitten, or go about a mare that is 
ill and will switch her tail and back her ears. Such 
action on the part of the mare is calculated to in- 
timidate a young jack, but on the other hand it is best 
to have a low mare that the jack will not have to 
strain himself in getting up on, and it is best 
to have her served by another jack or stallion so 
that she will be in good heat and make no resistance. 
I used to break my young jacks by using an Indian 
pony mare. 

I am not writing this book for the Ladies' Home 
Journal, nor for the general public, but for the young 
jack and jennet breeders that want information on 
that subject. Having known so many fine jacks 
spoiled by carelessness or for the want of experience 
or information is my apology for writing on the sub- 
ject with so much plainness and precision. 

I have often been consulted in regard to young 
jacks springing in their fore legs. While the colt is 
very young the animal matter predominates over the. 
bony or calcareous matter. Hence, they are liable to 
spring or give way, especially when the colt com- 
mences to graze and the grass is short. He is re- 
quired to put too much weight on one of his fore legs 
to enable him to reach the grass, hence there is a 
giving way in the joints. It is usually the knee that 
springs in, or out, but some time the ankle gives way 
or I have known the arm joint to fail. Then again 
where the jack colt has a very low dam, and he is 
tall and has to stoop to suck, compelling him to put 



28 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

undue weight on one of his limbs, springing is likely 
to result. 

Now when the short grazing is the cause of the 
trouble the colt can be put in the stable and fed with 
suitable food. Green food can be cut and carried to 
him so he will not have to expose the limbs by grazing. 
Should the springing be caused by the dam being so 
low, it may be obviated by the colt being put in a 
stable and fed on cow's milk, or milk from his dam; 
some jennets give large quantities of milk. I am 
aware that this course of treatment would give the 
owner much trouble and worry. But after the colt 
is from one to two years old, he is not so liable to 
spring. When the bony matter predominates over the 
animal matter the trouble subsides. A fine, well-bred 
jack colt, that promises to make an extra good animal, 
will pay his owner to give him some attention when 
young. From my long experience in handling this 
stock, I do not know of any animal that is more 
remunerative than the growth of a fine jack colt. 

From what has been written as regards rearing 
jacks and jennets, you will perceive how careful we 
should be in the selection of our stock to commence 
rearing a herd. In selecting a jennet jack we should 
bear in mind that as a general rule in breeding 
stock like begets like ; hence we should select a model 
jack as near as possible in every respect — form, size, 
color, constitution and a good general make-up. In 
judging of the constitution the animal should have a 
well developed chest, plenty of room for the heart and 
lungs to play. Bear in mind that they are the principal 
vital organs in all domestic animals. Length is an 
essential point in the make-up of a jennet jack. I re- 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 29 

gard it of more importance than height, yet the height 
has its bearing in the selling of a jack as well as a 
mule. Mules are generally classified by their height, 
and more importance is attached to it than I think 
should be. A jennet jack ought to have a long, thin, 
bony head, with long, well-tapered ears, sitting grace- 
fully on his head; large, flat, clean limbs, big foot, 
deeply cupped. As to color, it should be a good black 
with distinct white points. The pelvis, or breadth of 
hips, is very essential, either in jack or jennet. I have 
known jennets so deficient or narrow in the pelvis that 
they had great difficulty in giving birth to their off- 
spring. 



3° 



BREEDING AND REARING OF 



TREATMENT OF BREEDING JACKS. 



SECTION SIXTH. 

A breeding jack to keep him healthy and vigorous, 
should not be confined unduly to his stable. He should 
run out in his lot twelve hours in twenty-four if the 
weather is favorable. Feed him principally on shelled 
oats and wheat bran — sheaf oats cut fine and mixed 
wheat bran and occasionally shorts ; put enough water 
to make the bran stick to the oats, add a little salt to 
give the food a good relish. The bran acts as a 
laxative. Jacks are inclined to be costive. When this 
is the trouble give a mash and increase his green food. 
Green wheat and barley are good grazing for jacks. 
Never give more than two to four ears of corn at a 
feed. Should you notice the jack inclined to rub his 
body or bite his limbs you had better stop giving him 
corn. Jacks are subject to sores in hot weather, espe- 
cially if they are kept in the stable too much, and fed 
on corn unduly. I have known them ruined by letting 
them have chronic sores, which caused their death. 
You will please bear this in mind, not to keep your 
jacks too much confined, or to feed unduly on corn. 
I do not remember ever seeing jennets have sores 
that were allowed to run in the open air and graze. 
I am sure that jacks would live much longer and be 
more prolific if they were allowed more freedom in 
the open air and allowed to follow their instincts. 
They are great animals to wallow. I think it a good 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 31 

rule to have a suitable place in his lot dug up, and if 
there are clods, have them mashed and let him have 
a soft place to wallow. Where an animal is accus- 
tomed to roll or wallow every day the place becomes 
very hard, and if it is not dug up occasionally it may 
bruise his withers and produce fistula. 

In building a jack stable it should be large and 
roomy so that he can exercise some in bad weather. 
There should be no cracks in the stable that an animal 
can get his feet through. Some log stables have cracks 
large enough to let an animal get his foot in them and 
break his leg. Have known such instances. In build- 
ing a stable let the door be roomy and on the south 
side. 

The lot should be at least one acre and sowed down 
in blue grass, herd's grass, orchard grass and timothy, 
provided the soil is suitable for such grasses. By hav- 
ing different kinds of grass it gives the animal a 
variety of grazing and some one of them will afford 
good grazing all seasons of the year. Now I would 
suggest that you, if convenient, have a small lot of a 
quarter of an acre and let the jack exercise in it and 
roll, or wallow, then he can be let in his grazing lot 
and when he has filled himself put him in his exer- 
cising pound. By so doing you can economize in 
saving your grass. Stock do not like to eat grass 
where it has been walked over by other stock. It is 
important to give plenty of good, sweet timothy or 
herd's grass, well-cured fodder or such roughness as 
the animal is fond of. 

The stable should be kept dry. 

If the jack is kept shod during the breeding season, 
his shoes should be taken off to let his hoofs toughen, 



32 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

When the flies are very bad and the jack stamps his 
feet he is liable to break them and make himself lame. 
When this is the case the animals had better be shod 
until the flies quit fretting the stock. Some times 
you may use train oil or some remedy that will keep 
the flies away from the stock by applying occasionally 
while they are so annoying. A dark stable will usually 
keep them away in the day and the stock can run out 
at night when there are no flies to worry them. 

SECTION SEVENTH. 

As I am writing this book for the interest of my 
young countrymen and wishing to give them my ex- 
perience, I have concluded to give them a brief history 
of one of my trips after the Civil War of 1861 to 1865, 
inclusive. Previous to the war I was extensively en- 
gaged in breeding stock, especially the jack and jennet. 
I had procured a first-class jennet jack, Maringo 
Mammoth, at the cost of $2,160, and used him ex- 
clusively as a jennet jack at $40 per jennet. 

I had at that time about seventy-five jacks and jen- 
nets and was compelled to farm many of them out 
to stockmen on the shares. I tried to select good, 
steady, sober, upright men, that had farms of their 
own and men that would take care of them, those who 
had grass and were fond of this class of stock. I had 
selected men from my own county (Rutherford), Bed- 
ford, Cannon, Coffee, Wilson, and Marshall counties. 
They had given me their obligations to take special 
good care of my jennets and be at all expense in breed- 
ing and rearing of said stock for a period of some 
three years, and some five years. They also agreed 
and bound themselves to consult me in the breeding 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 33 

of the jennets; they were not to breed to jacks that 
stood for mares, but were to breed to the best jacks 
that were standing for jennets alone. My object was 
to improve my stock, and make it better all the time. 
I was sure that all of the jennets I owned or had 
farmed out, if bred to such jacks as Maringo Mam- 
moth, and should bring jack colts, and were properly 
cared for, could be readily sold for remunerative 
prices, say from $500 to $1,000 or more at maturity. 
At the expiration of the time for which the stock was 
farmed out, the original jennets were to be returned 
to me in as good condition as when they were taken 
away. Of some of the premium jennets, I was to 
have two-thirds of the produce, and of the others one- 
half. 

But when the four years' war ended, many of the 
farms in my section (Middle Tennessee) were torn to 
pieces, both armies having been about there for a 
number of months, and finally met at our city, Mur- 
freesboro, and fought one of the heavy battles of the 
war, called the Battle of Stone's River, or Battle of 
Murfreesboro. Many of the parties came to me and 
said that they were not able to carry out the contract 
that they had made with me before the war; that 
they were left in destitute circumstances. They could 
scarcely get bread for their children. They stated 
that the mares were nearly all taken out of the coun- 
try by the soldiers, and if they had jacks they would 
be of no value to them then. So they insisted posi- 
tively that I must take the stock and release them of 
any further obligation and give up the breeding bills 
and that I should have all the proceeds up to that 
date. I told my patrons it was a liberal proposition 



34 



BREEDING AND REARING OF 



on their part, but I stated it was like putting" five 
wheels to a wagon. I thought I might be able to care 
for the stock through the spring, summer and fall 
months, by grazing them on my farm of several hun- 
dred acres, nearly all well set in grasses adapted to 
the different qualities of the soil, but knew I could 
not possibly care for them during the winter under 
existing circumstances. 

This stock could not be disposed of in my country, 
owing to the ravages of the war, but must be taken 
off where the people had not suffered so much, and 
where such stock was needed, and also where there 
was money. I was engaged in the practice of medicine 
at the time, but gave that up in order to take my sur- 
plus stock off and try to dispose of them before winter. 
I began making my preliminary arrangements for a 
trip : procured a suitable two-horse wagon and a camp- 
ing equipage, making arrangements for a camp life. 
I procured a very good salesman to aid me in dispos- 
ing of my stock in the event I should get sick or 
unable to attend to business. I also procured a hand 
for every four or five jacks. I had the animals 
coupled together with a check stick so as to prevent 
them from biting or rearing on each other. I taught 
them to stand beside each other a short time before 
coupling them together for the road. The jacks soon 
learned to walk side by side after a little training. 
I had the jacks to travel in front of the wagon and 
the jennets behind the wagon, to prevent the jacks 
from fretting after the jennets. I had small boxes 
made to feed the jacks in, one made a little larger than 
the other so as to let them fit in each other that they 
could be handled in the wagon without taking up 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 35 

much room. We usually got suitable pastures for our 
jennets, but the jacks were kept haltered to trees if 
we were camping in the woods, or to fences, as the case 
required. Our wagon cover was waterproof, which 
kept our bed clothing and wearing apparel dry. 

We were now ready to start on our campaign. 
About the 15th of September, 1865, we were on our 
route to southern Illinois. Had some of my kind 
neighbors to go with me for a day or two so as to get 
my stock accustomed to the road. We started with 
fifty head — twenty-five jacks and twenty-five jennets. 
We traveled by way of Clarksville, Tenn., and crossed 
the Cumberland river above the city a few miles. 
There we had some trouble with our jennets. We 
could not take all of our jennets at one time, owing 
to the size of the ferryboat, which was small and had 
no banisters to it. After we got the second load of 
jennets in the boat and had left the shore a short dis- 
tance the jennets became frightened and commenced 
jumping overboard into the river and swam ashore. 
I came very near being run over by the stock as they 
left the boat. We should have had a better boat for 
ferrying loose stock! This stock is afraid of water 
and we have trouble frequently in getting them to 
cross water on a bridge. Have had to put a rope 
around the under jaw and tie it to my horse's tail and 
have two strong men to take a plank or pole and put 
it behind the jack's rump and have the men to push 
while the horse pulled by his tail. This has been done 
frequently in getting the stock to cross branches and 
creeks where there is no bridge. If you are handling 
this stock and have to travel much with them you will 
soon become acquainted with some of their peculiar 



36 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

characteristics. After crossing the Cumberland river 
we moved on to the neighborhood of Hopkinsville, 
Ky., where we spent the Sabbath. 

On Monday morning we made our first sale. We 
made it a rule not to travel or trade on the Lord's day. 
We sold a very fine four-year-old jack that I had 
raised, called Beauregard, to a company of four nice 
gentlemen who paid me nine hundred dollars cash. 
He was a good jennet jack and was sired by an im- 
ported jack called Prince Napoleon, that was imported 
by General Edney, of North Carolina, while consul, 
during President Polk's administration. The dam of 
this jack was a premium jennet for a half interest in 
which I gave my brother, General J. M. Knight, $250. 
She was sired by my jennet jack Maringo Mammoth. 
Beauregard made quite a character as a fine breeder, 
for both mares and jennets, around Hopkinsville, Ky. 

My next sale was between Hopkinsville and Prince- 
ton, Ky. I sold a half-interest in a four-year-old jack, 
fifteen hands high, a dapple gray, to Mr. Clardy, who 
formerly lived in Bedford County, Tennessee, and 
had made quite a reputation for handling good stock, 
especially the saddle stallions. He reared the noted 
horse, Blue John, that was so famous for producing 
that class of stock. This horse was taken by the Fed- 
eral soldiers during the Civil War into Indiana and 
was subsequently brought back to Tennessee, where 
he made his mark. Mr. Clardy gave me $400 for one- 
half interest in this jack and was to keep him five years 
and be at all expenses for that period, except that I' 
was to pay one-half of the United States government 
tax ($10), and for half of a ten-dollar show bridle. 
I also farmed Mr. Clardy one of my fine jennets, 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 37 

with a sucking jennet colt, which he was to keep and 
breed for five years and return the jennets. At the 
expiration of that time this sucking colt had a fine 
sucking jack colt worth $200. I bought Mr. Clardy's 
interest in all the stock and shipped them home to 
Middle Tennessee — Murfreesboro. 

We crossed the Ohio river at a place called Cave 
in the Rock. Here one of the young men came to me 
and told me he could not swim and was afraid to cross 
the river; that he had a cousin living in the Ken- 
tucky purchase and he preferred staying with him 
until I returned from Illinois. After crossing the 
river I sold one of my young jacks to an aged Irish- 
man whose name I have forgotten. There was an 
agricultural fair going on near the river and we con- 
cluded to stop over and show our stock. We took 
some premiums. I remember there was a premium 
offered for the best and fastest saddle stallion one 
mile and repeat. I owned old Brown Pilott and was 
riding and driving my jennets that trip on him. I did 
not have any time to prepare him for the race, but he 
had been trained and raced before with some success. 
I think he was sired by Brown Pilott, of Kentucky. 
My horse, Brown Pilott, was the sire of the noted 
pacing horse Bone Setter, Brooks and other good ones. 
I had a young man with me, a good rider, and had 
my horse ridden around the track several times in 
a brisk pace so as to make him familiar with it, but 
not strain or make him track-sore. So when the day of 
the race came there were six entries and there had 
been a heavy rain. The track was muddy and there 
was a swag in the track for about fifty yards wide, the 
water six or eight inches deep, so that the horse had 



38 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

to pace through. Brown Pilott won the race in good 
style in two heats. The riders were so wet and muddy 
it was hard to tell one from the other. Mr. Ephraim 
Nesbitt was my jockey and my neighbor, and went 
the round trip with me and was a most excellent as- 
sistant. I mention this trip and circumstance not to 
encourage sporting, but on the contrary would advise 
all of my readers to abstain from all manner of evil 
and to keep from forming any bad habits. It is much 
easier to contract bad habits than it is to abandon 
them. 

I have great partiality for all kinds of fine domestic 
animals, and have raised some animals that have dis- 
tinguished themselves on the turf as pacers, viz. : 
Tom Hal, the sire of Snow Heels ; and he sired the 
famous brood mare, Sweepstakes, that was the dam of 
Hal Pointer, 2.4^ ; Star Pointer, 1.59^ ; and eight 
others that all had good records. She certainly was 
the most famous brood mare for producing pacers on 
the American continent. 

I feel it due to give a brief history of the sire and 
grandsire of this famous old brood mare, which lived 
to be twenty-nine years old: Snow Heels was her 
sire and was bred and reared by me in Rutherford 
County, Tennessee, and he was sired by my Tom Hal, 
he by Major Kitrell's Tom Hal, and he by Tom Hal, 
of Kentucky. My Tom Hal had four thoroughbred 
blood crosses on his dam's side, and looked more like 
a thoroughbred blood horse than a saddle stallion. 
Snow Heels' first dam was sired by Puckett's Glencoe, 
and he was sired by imported Glencoe. Puckett's 
Glencoe's first dam was the noted four-mile mare, 
Frances Terral, by Bertran, he by Sir Archie, and he 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 39 

by imported Diomeed. So you will perceive that 
Snow Heels and Tom Hal's dams had a great deal 
of fine, thoroughbred crosses which gave such speed 
and endurance to their descendants. Mr. Edmond 
Geers stated to me that Hal Pointer was the best 
campaign horse that he had ever pulled a line over. 

The late Major Campbell Brown in writing me for 
the pedigree of Snow Heels stated that his mares 
were greatly sought after. Snow Heels' second dam 
was sired by Mr. Wm. Thomas' noted stock horse, 
Brown Solomon, and his pedigree ran back to the 
old Sir Archie and Diomeed crosses. This noted brood 
mare was exhibited at Shelbyville, Bedford County, 
Tennessee, when a sucking colt in a large lot of colts 
and was awarded the first premium. I purchased 
her from Dr. Daniel Johnson when a filly at a large 
price. He told me that the dam of this filly was the 
best saddle mare he ever saw or owned. The doctor 
was an old man and had practiced medicine for many 
years at Liberty, in Rutherford County. I bred this 
mare to my jack, Monarch. She brought me a mare 
mule that I sold at weaning for one hundred dollars. 
This was the first and last sucking mule colt I ever 
saw sold for that price. 

Tom Hal and Snow Heels were both fine, com- 
manding saddle stallions and very popular. I owned 
them when the Civil War was going on and the officers 
of both armies wanted them. The Federal army got 
Tom Hal three times and we succeeded in getting 
him back twice, but the third time he was taken I 
never was able to recover him. Was offered twelve 
hundred dollars for him before the commencement of 
the war. 



40 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

I sold half interest in Snow Heels to my brother, 
General J. M. Knight, and he was taken by the Con- 
federate soldiers and was carried to Canton, Miss., 
where my brother got him and brought him back to 
Marshall County, Tennessee. There is quite a history 
connected with those two saddle stallions and their 
descendants. Sweepstakes as a breeder of pacing 
horses sired by Snow Heels has never been equaled 
in America. Her dam, I think, was sired by Mc- 
Minn's Traveler, another well bred saddle stallion with 
good thoroughbred blood crosses. You will perceive 
that the crosses of the thoroughbred blood stock are 
essentially necessary to give bottom or stamina to the 
pacer, trotter or running horse. 

But with all that is so fascinating and alluring 
about the fine speed horses in every line I want my 
friends to understand that I do not advise them to 
get in that line of business. In my younger days I 
was associated with race horses and was very fond 
of seeing them run. My father was engaged in breed- 
ing fine stock and he gave me an interest in a fine 
colt that was sired by Thornton's Old Ratler, by Sir 
Archer, by imported Diomeed. I rubbed this colt 
and imagined that we had in him a world beater. 
Jeffrey Beck was our trainer. He was an uncle of 
General Bedford Forrest, and esteemed as a trainer of 
horses in his day, that is, about 1837. While we 
were campaigning with our horses I witnessed so 
much gambling with cards and heard so much pro- 
fane language, that I had such a disgust for cards 
that I did not want to learn anything about them. 
Now in my eighty-sixth year of age could not tell the 



JACKS, JKNNETS AND MULES 41 

name of each card. So you may know what I think 
of them! 

I have made quite a digression from my trip to 
Illinois. I think I left off at a fair ground where I 
put Brown Pilott in a race. It has been about thirty- 
six years since and I have forgotten the name of the 
place. We won the race and made some sales and 
went to a place called Salem. There I found a farmer 
that offered me ten two-year-old mules for a four- 
year-old jack I had raised, fifteen hands high, and 
was one of the best that I had in my drove when I 
started from home with twenty-five head of jacks and 
the same number of jennets. I had bred a number 
of my jennets to this jack (Harry of the West). I 
did not want to dispose of him until I had sold my 
jennets, for I wanted those who would buy the jennets 
to know what a fine jack they had been bred to. I 
made a trade with the farmer at Salem with this 
proviso: That if, when I had disposed of all of my 
jennets, I did not have an opportunity of selling him 
for money, or swapping him for better matured stock, 
I would make the trade with the first offer of ten 
two-year-old mules. 

We then traveled west and located in Bond County, 
Illinois, where we pretty well closed out all of our 
jennets; had sold and bartered until we were about 
ready to start home. We sold to a firm in Mulberry 
Grove three thousand dollars' worth of jacks and jen- 
nets. We left the grove for Vandalia and stopped 
to lay in our supplies to last us home, and while there 
saw two gentlemen who wanted our jack, Harry of 
the West. They stated they had one hundred and 
fifty mules and would give me nine three-year-olds 



42 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

as good as a three-year-old iron-gray mare mule I had 
bartered for, and she should be the sample. She was 
fifteen hands high and smooth. Thinking I could sell 
nine three-year-olds for more than I could ten two- 
year-olds, I agreed to go and see the mules. We had 
to travel nine miles obliquely from our main route 
home. We took the jack and the sample mule and 
spent the night. We had no special trouble in agree- 
ing about the selection of the mules. The company 
that wanted my jack, wished to exhibit him at the 
state fair in Illinois. The party assisted me in getting 
the stock to my camp. 

We then went the direct route to Hopkinsville, Ky. 
Here we sold out our surplus stock to the party who 
had bought Beauregard, as we were going to Illinois. 
In bartering the jack, Harry of the West, we got 
about twelve hundred and fifty dollars for him. I now 
desire to refer very kindly to my venerable friend, 
the late Rev. Mr. Woolard, of Mulberry Grove, Bond 
County, Illinois. He was originally from Maury 
County, Tennessee, and had settled in Illinois at an 
early date. He rendered me valuable service while 
there. 

I was nine weeks making this trip, and bartered 
and sold together about ten thousand dollars' worth of 
jacks and jennets that I could not have sold at home 
for one thousand dollars cash, owing to the ravages 
of war. I had left on my farm quite a number of 
jacks and jennets for which there was no demand 
in my section of country, consequently after having 
made that long and tedious journey to Illinois, I had 
necessarily to hunt other localities that had not suf- 
fered so much from the destruction of the armies. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 43 

I made several other trips into different states — 
Alabama, Georgia, East Tennessee, West Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Texas. I traded in 
Texas before any railroad depot was established at 
Fort Worth. When trading in any adjoining states, 
I usually had a light two-horse wagon and a tent, 
and bought our feed by the wholesale for our stock, 
and when the weather was favorable, we camped out, 
and avoided heavy hotel and stable bills. 

I made it a point when I found a man that wanted 
any of my stock, and could not pay me all cash, to 
barter with him, he to pay me some money, and I would 
take young mules, good fillies, young cattle, or take 
cotton in the bale, or anything that I could soon con- 
vert into money. Have traded for fat hogs and shipped 
them home on the cars. The cotton I could place 
in the hands of a merchant at nearest depot, and let 
him sell it for me. After disposing of my jacks I 
would concentrate the cattle, fillies and mules, and 
ship on the cars, provided the distance was too great 
to drive through by land to my home. I want to 
state right here, that cattle shipped from the Southern 
states, north several degrees, appear to do well them- 
selves, but the native cattle that graze on the same 
pasture with the Southern cattle frequently die of a 
disease similar to murrain. On the other hand, when 
matured cattle are shipped from Tennessee, several 
degrees south, they are apt to die soon. It is much 
safer to select calves to ship to a southern climate, to 
avoid cattle fever, and the best season to ship is late 
in the fall, when the weather becomes cool. I have 
had a good deal of experience in this line of business. 
I remember when trading in Arkansas, camping out 



44 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

in the canebrake section, and preparing our meals at 
night, the broiling of our meat would attract the 
wolves, and we could hear them howl. At that date, 
deer, bear, turkeys, and all kinds of wild game were 
plentiful, and are yet in some places. 

While traveling through the rich bottom lands of 
Arkansas we saw great quantities of mast, such as 
pecans, acorns of different kinds, switch cane, that 
would keep stock in good order through the winter 
and spring seasons. An old native living in the neigh- 
borhood came to our camp and was regretting his mis- 
fortunes, saying he had lost a great deal of money 
while living there. I asked him how it occurred. He 
said it was because he did not have money to buy 
hogs to eat the mast that rotted in the swamps. I 
have seen pretty good pork taken to St. Louis, that 
had been fattened on mast. 

While trading in Arkansas I met with a Kentuckian 
who had a herd of improved Durham cattle of one 
hundred and fifty head, and proposed giving me fifty 
head of cows that would be fresh to give milk the 
following spring, for a young stallion and a large 
sixteen-hand jack I had, and agreed to keep the cattle 
on the switch cane until April or May following. His 
rancho was on White river at a place called Peach 
Orchard Bluff. There were about one hundred acres 
not subject to overflow. When I went after the cattle 
there had been a considerable freshet, and we had to 
take a canoe and go through the woods nine miles to 
reach the cattle. We built a lot on the bank of the 
river, collected and assorted the cattle. We had to 
lariat mine, and draw them on the steamboat by a 
windlass, which was no small undertaking. They 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 45 

were taken to Williamsport on White river, and there 
put on the cars, shipped to St. Louis and sold. I will 
state here, that while in the bottom lands in Arkansas 
I saw in the fork of a cypress tree an eagle's nest, 
the first and last I have ever seen. When I traded 
for the cattle, I expected to take them to New Orleans 
or Memphis, but learned that an ordinance had been 
passed in both of those cities forbidding cattle to run 
on the streets, because they were expecting an epi- 
demic of cholera, consequently had to go to St. Louis 
and closed out. I made this trip alone, and would not 
be willing to make a similar one, with plenty of good 
help, at my advanced age. 

I will not tax my readers with an account of my 
trips in Texas, Missouri, Kansas and other states. 
Before closing this part of my book let me advise that 
when the country is in a prosperous condition, as a 
general rule, the stock farmer had better keep good 
stock, keep them in fine, saleable order, stay at home, 
and advertise well, and he will generally meet with 
success in selling his stock. 

I hope my friends will pardon me for a little egotism 
in stating that I put up the first sale stable in Nash- 
ville, Tenn., to sell jacks and jennets. I have sold 
them in fourteen different states, and some that were 
carried out of the Uinted States, and have frequently 
sold jacks at different times to the same customers, 
but up to date have never had a lawsuit or litigation 
with one of my customers. He would take the jack 
home, and do business with him, perhaps two or three 
seasons, and get the growth and development of the 
animal, and his services, and sell him for a good profit, 
and come back, and buy another one or two. I have 
sold several in that way. 



46 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

Before leaving this part of my book, I wish to refer 
my readers to the life of Judge J. D. Goodpasture as 
written and published by his sons, A. V. and W. H. 
Goodpasture, containing also sketches of their visits 
to Europe in search of stock, especially the jack and 
jennet stock, which they imported eight different times 
to this market, Nashville, Tenn. This book will be 
found very interesting to all parties engaged in stock 
raising and selling, as there is a great deal of infor- 
mation to be had from reading it. Messrs. A. V. and 
W. H. Goodpasture have a large book store on Church 
Street, Nashville, where this book can be found. I 
will also state that Judge Goodpasture and son had a 
sale stable of jacks and jennets very near mine for 
several years ; when they had a customer to whom they 
did not sell, they would either bring or send him to 
my stable to see my stock, and we did the same by 
them, which made everything between us work very 
pleasantly and harmoniously, although in the same line 
of business. 

THE MULE. 

I have been for some time writing about the jacks 
and jennets, of the different species of them that have 
been imported from Europe, especially those that have 
been brought from Spain, France and Italy. I think 
that from the year 1885 to J 893 Tennessee imported 
from those three above named countries' and the 
islands of the Mediterranean Sea. During those eight 
years about eight hundred to one thousand jacks and 
jennets were landed in and around Nashville. I think 
it can be truthfully stated that Tennessee imported 
more jacks and jennets than all the other states in the 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 47 

United States put together in the eight years. Hence, 
We have had the pick of the best stock of Europe to 
select our jacks and jennets and from them we ought 
to rear the finest class of mules out of our fine brood 
mares. Tennessee ought to stand at the head of the 
list with her advantages now if she will only do her 
duty in breeding to the best jacks and jennets and 
best class of brood mares. 

The mule is a hybrid, the product of a jack and 
a mare. The hinny is also a mongrel, the produce 
of a stallion and jennet. The latter is seldom seen 
in our country, but resembles the mule very much. 
It is claimed that they partake more of the nature of 
the horse in form and disposition than the jennet. 
They have a neater head and heavier mane and tail 
than a mule, and a larger foot, but it is thought that 
they have not the endurance of a mule. I do not 
remember ever seeing but two hinnies; one of them 
I saw in Texas on the Brazos river, the other was in 
Bedford County, Tennessee. The hinny is said to 
make a noise more like a horse, while the mule brays 
more like a jack. I think one reason that we have so 
few hinnies in our country is, that stallions have an 
aversion to jennets, and will not serve them unless 
they have been reared with jennets, as jack colts are 
reared with filly colts, when they are first weaned. 

I have tried to impress upon jack breeders the great 
importance of taking their jack colts away from their 
own species and put them with filly colts as soon as 
they are weaned and let them continue to remain with 
them until the jack colt becomes too rough for the 
fillies. By this time the jack colt becomes attached 
to the filly and then you will not have trouble to 



48 BREEDING AND REARING OF 



break him to business at a proper time. I will also 
repeat what I have written when speaking of training 
jacks, that they should be away from mules as well 
as jennets. Some jacks are partial to mules and I 
have known mare mules used to get jacks ready to 
serve mares. 

At an early day mules were used for riding. In 
the patriarchal ages the ass, ox and camel were the 
principal beasts of burden, but in our day we use the 
horse, ox and mule, the latter especially for the South 
and tropical climate. Since the Spanish-American 
War there has been so much tropical territory added 
to the United States, that the demand for mules has 
increased and will continue to increase until those 
tropical islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are 
supplied with mules. Of all the beasts of burden and 
for agricultural purposes, especially for the South, 
there are none equal to the long-lived and hardy mule. 
He lives much longer than the horse, perhaps more 
than twice as long, and is not so subject to disease. 
He consumes much less food, pulls under a cold collar 
and is not so liable to balk. His hoof is more deeply 
cupped and is tougher, consequently he will hold a 
shoe much longer than a horse. He is considered 
more sure-footed than a horse, and I have known 
physicians who preferred riding a mule to using a 
horse. 

Will give you a description of the different classes 
of mules by Messrs. Shryer & McConnell, of Nash- 
ville, Tenn., who are perhaps the largest mule dealers 
in Tennessee, and are reliable business men. 

The sugar mules run in age from three to five years 
old and from fifteen and a half to sixteen and one- 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI^ES 49 

fourth hands high; they are fed from the time they 
are colts until they are shipped to Louisiana. 

The mine mules are from fifteen to sixteen hands 
high, from five to ten years old, and must have bone 
and good foot and good body. 

The dray mules are from five to eight years old, 
fifteen and three-fourths to sixteen and one-half hands 
high, from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds. 

The cotton mules are from three to five years old, 
thirteen and three-fourths to fifteen and one-fourth 
hands. 

The mules sold to the British government must be 
from five to twelve years old, but must be sound and 
free from blemishes. 

Mules from fifteen and one-half to sixteen and one- 
fourth hands high sell better in spring, summer and 
fall for work in Tennessee. 

The dealers begin to buy cotton mules in the fall 
and fatten them for the Southern market, which com- 
mences in October and continues until March. 

There are several advantages in handling mules 
over horses. You can sell them readily at any age. 
They sell at weaning, one year old, or at two, three 
or four, or at any age you have him in market order 
you can get his cash value. You do not have to curry 
and rub and educate to the different saddle gaits and 
break him to harness before he is ready for market. 
You can often sell them in carload lots instead of 
selling by retail, and by so doing you get your money 
in a bulk and can invest it to much better advantage. 
3 



50 BREEDING AND REARING OF 



REMINISCENCES OF JACKS AND 
JACK BREEDERS, 

At a called meeting of the American Breeders' As- 
sociation of Jacks and Jennets, held at Nashville, 
Tenn., June 25, 1890, the executive committee ap- 
pointed me to write an essay or history of our old 
original jack stock and pioneer breeders of the United 
States. In undertaking this somewhat difficult task 
we have to be governed in a great measure by memory, 
as we have but little literature on the subject of jacks. 
History informs us that soon after the close of the 
Revolutionary War the king of Spain presented to 
General George Washington a Spanish jack and jen- 
net. General Lafayette, after his return to France, 
also presented him with a fine jack, which was bred 
to the Spanish jennet, and produced the famous jack, 
Compound, which sired some mules that were sold 
after the General's death for upwards of two hundred 
dollars each. This gave rise to considerable interest 
in the breeding of mules, not only in Virginia, but 
Kentucky, Tennessee and other states soon fell into 
the same line. 

Perhaps the credit is due the Hon. Henry Clay, of 
Kentucky, for introducing the fine Spanish jacks into 
that state. If our memory serves us correctly, he 
introduced the noted imported jacks, Don Carlos, 
Ulysses, Black Hawk, etc. These fine imported jacks 
soon made the blue grass region famous for their 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 51 

superior mules, sired by these imported jacks and 
out of finely bred mares. Mules were one of the great 
staples of Kentucky before the war. 

Messrs. Aquilla Young and Everette, of Mt. Ster- 
ling, Ky., owned Mammoth (imported). He was 
considered the largest jack that had ever been im- 
ported into the United States up to that time. They 
were able to stand him alone for jennets at $100 per 
jennet. 

Mammoth made nine seasons before he died, and 
his owners realized a handsome income from his 
services by buying his jack colts and growing them 
until they were two and three years old. Many of 
his jack colts sold readily for $500 before weaning. 
Perhaps no jack that was ever introduced into the 
United States improved the jack and jennet stock in 
bone and size equal to him. He was about sixteen 
hands high, standard measure, and heavy like a horse. 

The late Mr. Miller, of Millersburg, Ky., owned 
some fine jacks. 

In 1856 Lear Brothers owned the large jack, Buena 
Vista, by Mammoth (imported). 

The late Major Knox, of Danville, Ky., was con- 
sidered one of the foremost breeders of jacks and 
jennets before the war. He made quite a success in 
rearing this stock, and captured more premiums with 
his jacks and jennets than any breeder in the state. 

Major Tarkington (the son-in-law of Major Knox) 
is occupying the old, noted stock farm, and is rearing 
some of the best stock in the same line. He has re- 
cently purchased the noted jack, Paragon (imported), 
of Dr. Curd and Wm. and R. Davis, all of Lebanon, 
Tenn., at a cost of $2,000, and is using him for jennets 



52 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

exclusively. The major has, perhaps, the finest jennet 
in the state, sired by Abran (imported). She is 
fifteen and one-half hands high, very heavy and 
stylish ; is a successful breeder and a fine show animal. 
She is registered. 

Messrs. W. L. Caldwell & Son, of Danville, Ky., 
are spirited breeders. They are the owners of Giant 
32, who took the first premium at the State Fair at 
St. Louis, Mo. 

Mr. Hubble, of Danville, Ky., reared some most 
excellent jacks and jennets. He bred Brignoli and 
Luke Blackburn, that were recently sold at his dis- 
persion sale at fabulous prices. 

The earliest pioneer breeder in Tennessee, as nearly 
as we can learn, was Colonel James Ridley, of David- 
son County. He visited Virginia about 1820 and pur- 
chased a jack called Compromise. He was the sire of 
Colonel Ridley's Old Wonder, that was considered the 
largest and best jack of his day in Tennessee. He 
was to Tennessee what Mammoth was to Kentucky 
as a pioneer breeder. 

The late Jonathan Curran, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
was a breeder of jacks and jennets about the year 
1830. 

In 1835 or J ^36 niy father, the late Captain James 
Knight, visited Virginia and purchased a very fine 
black jack, with white points, called John Bull. He 
did business in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and 
gave satisfaction as a popular breeder. He was said 
to be the third descendant from the Royal Gift of 
General Washington. My father also owned a jack 
in North Carolina about the year 1820. I have an 
imperfect recollection of this jack, as I was only four 
or five years old. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 53 

General A. Wilson, my father and my brother, Gen- 
eral J. M. Knight, purchased in Kentucky the cele- 
brated premium jennet jack, Maringo Mammoth. He 
did business for a number of years in Marshall Coun- 
ty, Tennessee, after which I purchased him as a nine- 
year-old, and at a cost of $2,160, and used him ex- 
clusively for jennets at $40 per jennet. The jack 
was about sixteen hands high, standard, with unusual 
weight and substance. We regarded him as the 
largest and best adapted to improve the small-boned 
jack stock that was ever introduced into Tennessee. 
He was the recipient of every premium for which he 
contended in the State of Kentucky, of his own age, 
and captured every premium contended for in Ten- 
nessee, and was shown at all the important fairs in 
the middle division. He was black, with white points, 
was sired by Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky, and he 
by Mammoth (imported). A number of his jennets 
sold for $500 before the war. 

I also owned the celebrated premium jack, Ben 
Franklin, he being a purely bred Spanish jack. He 
proved to be a most excellent breeder, both for mares 
and jennets. He was the recipient of more premiums 
than any jack of his day. I exhibited him at a great 
many fairs in Middle Tennessee, at Chattanooga, and 
at two state fairs in Georgia — one at Macon in 1873, 
and at Atlanta in 1874. He was also exhibited in 
Illinois. In all of these places he met with success. 

I think one of the first imported jacks ever brought 
to Tennessee was taken to Maury County, and was 
owned by a Mr. Thomas. He was afterwards sold to 
General Gideon J. Pillow and brother. This was 
Knight Errant (imported). I think he was imported 



54 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

about 1840. He proved quite an accession to Maury 
and adjoining counties. 

Dr. Boyd also owned a fine jack, called Philip — I 
think by Mammoth. 

The late Benjamin Harlan also owned a fine jack, 
called Harlan's Mammoth. He made considerable 
reputation. 

The late J. J. Williamson, of Marshall County, 
Tennessee, was an early and successful breeder of 
jacks and jennets. He paid $500 at a very early day 
for a jennet called Matilda. She was sired by Maringo 
Mammoth, and was the dam of several remarkably 
fine jennet jacks, among others being Black Prince, 
sire of J. D. Reed's Longfellow, for which he paid 
$2,250. Longfellow was a fine breeder and a success- 
ful premium winner. His dam was also by Maringo 
Mammoth. 

The late Thos. Dean, of Bedford County, Tennessee, 
was perhaps the earliest breeder of that county. He 
owned the distinguished jack, Black-and- All-Black, 
which sired Goliath, owned by Rev. T. B. Marks, and 
was sold to a company in Alabama for $1,600. This 
was regarded as a large price in that day for a native 
jack. Rev. T. B. Marks is and has been regarded as 
one of the very best stock breeders in Middle Ten- 
nessee. 

Messrs. Steel & Bro., Esquire Williams, Dr. Thomas 
Lipscomb, Samuel Wood, J. D. Hutton, Cotner, and 
others, of Bedford County, were all interprising jack 
and jennet breeders. 

Messrs. Goodrum, Chairs & Bellanfant owned the 
jennet jack, Lord of the Isle. He was very large, and 
was sired by Knight Errant (imported). 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 55 

The late Pleasant Akin, of Maury County, owned 
some very superior jacks, among others King Philip, 
that took the $500 premium at the State Fair at Nash- 
ville. In this exhibition he contended against some 
of the best jacks in the state, among others the noted 
Barcelona (imported), then owned by C. Oldham, 
Major Sam and Colonel J. R. Davis, of Wilson 
County, Tennessee. There was difficulty in determin- 
ing this premium. The contention was between King 
Philip and Barcelona (imported). Several extra 
judges were called in before the decision was made. 
They finally resorted to the tape line and measured 
the jacks carefully, the native jack, King Philip, being 
at last awarded the premium. 

The late William Younger, of Santa Fe, Maury 
County, was a pioneer and successful breeder, as was 
also the late M. H. Mays, of the same county, and 
who owned the following imported jacks, that were 
used exclusively for jennets, viz. : Moro Castle, pur- 
chased in Kentucky from the late Anthony Kilgore at 
a fabulous price ; Napoleon the Third, an exceptionally 
fine looking animal, and considered one of the finest 
show jacks in the state. Mr. Mays stood each of these 
jacks at $50, perhaps the highest figure that any jack 
had ever commanded up to that date, this being about 
1858. He also owned the two imported jacks, Mid- 
night and Starlight. These were very fine jacks, and 
were imported by the late A. C. Franklin and Major 
Tul. Craig. Mr. Mays also owned the native jack, 
Mohawk, by Mammoth (imported). All the above 
jacks made their mark in Tennessee. 

The late Wyatt Lane, of Cofifee County, introduced 
into his section some good Maringo Mammoth jacks 



56 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

before the war that improved the stock of that county 
greatly. 

Major Allman, Colonel McClellan and others, of 
Marshall County, purchased the fine jennet jack 
Bourbon from parties in Bourbon County, Kentucky. 
He was a Mammoth-bred jack, and proved to be a 
superior breeder. 

The late Dr. Hocket, Dan Young, Mark Cockrill, 
Sr., Colonel John Overton, Dr. Shelby, Colonel D. H. 
McGavock, J. McRidley and Robert Rains, all of 
Davidson County, were jack breeders. Colonel Rains 
owned Black Prince (imported), used him awhile 
as a jennet jack and sold him to> Colonel Blythe, of 
Wilson County. He purchased Black Mammoth of 
Major Knox, Danville, Ky., just before the war, pay- 
ing $2,500 for him as a three-year-old. He was sired 
by Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky. He proved 
to be a superior jennet jack. He sired Black Prince 
of Fair View. This jack was reared by Colonel R. 
Rains, and was sold to Dr. W. A. Cheatham at an 
early age for $1,000. This jack was a premium win- 
ner in both Tennessee and Kentucky. I used him as 
a jennet jack (soon after the war), and regarded him 
as one of the best of his day. 

I purchased the renowned sweepstakes premium 
jennet jack, Black Satin, of Sampson Liggett, of Mar- 
shall County, Tennessee. He was sired by Dr. Boyd's 
Philip, a jack fifteen hands, standard, and a silky 
black with light points. He captured a great many 
sweepstake premiums in Middle Tennessee. I used 
him as a jennet jack. He sired a great many fine 
jacks ; among others was J. J. Williams' Black Prince, 
afterwards sold to Sam Wood. He was the sire of 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 57 

J. D. Reed's Longfellow, and others. It was said the 
dam of Black Satin was the dam of $10,000 worth 
of jacks. 

If time and space would allow, I could mention 
quite a number of jennets that were the dams of 
several thousand dollars' worth of jacks. I will men- 
tion anyway two that were owned by my father and 
brother before the war. They sold from one jennet, 
called Jenny Harlan, $4,000 worth. She was sired 
by Benjamin Harlan's Mammoth. The other jennet 
was sired by M. H. Mays' Mohawk. From this 
jennet was sold $6,000 worth. They were both good 
and regular breeders at my father's death, and I did 
not keep up with their subsequent breeding. 

I have mentioned these examples that they may 
stimulate and encourage the young jack and jennet 
breeders of our country. If they will select good, 
well-bred jennets, breed with proper discretion, and 
give vigilant attention to their rearing, I do not know 
of any kind of stock farming that will excel it finan- 
cially. 

In about 1868 I purchased an imported Maltese 
jack called Malta. He was bred and reared on the 
Island of Malta, was landed at Charleston, S. C, 
and brought to Cartersville, Ga., where I purchased 
him. He, though rather small, made a good cross on 
my large Mammoth jennets. While the Maltese jacks 
are generally undersized, they are remarkable for their 
vitality and longevity. 

General J. M. Knight, of Caney Springs, Marshall 
County, Tenn., did a jennet business with a jack called 
Prince Napoleon that was imported by General Edney, 
of North Carolina, while consul to Spain under Presi- 



58 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

dent Pollys administration. He was a very high- 
styled jack, but was rather light of bone and body. 

I think I have given a general, though imperfect, 
history of the jack stock from soon after the Revolu- 
tionary War down to the late Civil War. Now it is 
my purpose to give a history of all the importations 
since that war. The first importation was made by 
the late A. C. Franklin and Major Tul. Craig, of Sum- 
ner County, Tennessee, in about 1867 or J 868. They 
brought over a very handsome lot of Catalonian jacks. 
Among some of the most noted were Rifle and Laber- 
dale. They were taken to West Tennessee and greatly 
improved the jack stock of that section. Midnight 
and Starlight were sold to M. H. Mays, of Maury 
County. They were individually good ones. 

The jack Mr. Franklin reserved from the importa- 
tion for his own breeding was Black Forrest. He 
proved to be a very popular breeder. Among the 
many fine jacks that he sired was Ben Franklin, of 
which I have already given an account. 

Mr. Lyle, of Kentucky, about the year 1882 im- 
ported Andalusians from about Seville. One of his 
most noted animals, Abran, sold to W. L. Caldwell, 
of Danville, Ky., sired Major George Tarkington's 
premium jennet, that is about fifteen and one-half 
hands high, Abran being only about fourteen hands. 

Messrs. Leonard Bros., of Mt. Leonard, Mo. (Hon- 
orable Chas. E. was a member of the firm), imported 
in 1882 a lot of Andalusians, purchased in and around 
Cordova and Seville. Some of these jacks were large, 
over fifteen hands high. A jennet by one of them, at 
the dispersion sale of our late lamented treasurer, 
Major Gentry, sold for $750. Other jennets, at the 






JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 59 

same sale and by these jacks, also brought good 
prices. 

Mr. Graham, of Kentucky, about the year 1883 
or 1884, brought over some Andalusians. We know 
but little or nothing about them. Some three or four 
years afterwards the same firm imported a few jacks, 
some jennets and colts from Catalonia. 

Messrs. Hoy Bros., of Nebraska, imported five jacks 
from Catalonia in the summer of 1884. They were 
excellent animals, but did badly after landing, mainly 
on account of bad management and a lack of infor- 
mation as to how they should be treated. 

Luke M. Emerson, of Bowling Green, Mo., im- 
ported about fifteen or twenty Catalonians in 1889. 
Most of these were young jacks and colts, and among 
the number a few excellent animals. In the same 
year the Hon. Harkreader, of Okolona, Miss., im- 
ported. He shipped his stock with Mr. Emerson, and 
brought over the same kind and about the same 
quality of stock. 

Messrs. Kniffin & White, of Danville, 111., also im- 
ported in 1889. They brought over only ten head — ■ 
all from the island of Majorca, and sold them mostly 
in and around Higginsville, Mo. They were of ex- 
cellent color and of good head and ears. Most of 
them are registered. 

D. Munroe, of Danville, La., made an importation 
from Andalusia, Spain, in 1889. Most of his jacks 
were purchased in the provinces of Cordova and Leon. 
Many of them were black, but never having seen the 
importation we cannot say what proportion, nor do 
we know the exact number imported. Some of them, 
however, have been registered, and judging from these 



60 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

pedigrees suppose the jacks are large and of good 
quality. 

In 1889 a firm from Arkansas made an importation 
from the kingdom of Andalusia. This was regarded 
as one among* the best lot of jacks ever brought from 
that part of Spain. The majority of them were grays, 
but they were heavy and of large bone. They were 
on exhibition for the purpose of sale at the St. Louis 
fair in the fall of 1889. Most of them were sold there, 
and the balance were taken back to Arkansas. This 
importation numbered about twenty-five head. 

J. D. and W. H. Goodpasture and R. H. Hill landed 
an importation at Nashville, Tenn., in March, 1886. 
They were Andalusians from about the city of Cor- 
dova, Spain, and were about twenty-five in number, 
including both jacks and jennets. Some of them 
were above fifteen hands high. In the fall of 1886 
this firm brought over one of the best importations 
ever made of Catalonian jacks. Included in the num- 
ber was Jumbo, sold to a company for $2,000 ; Peacock 
for $1,500; Boyd's Monarch, $1,500; the Douglas 
jack, $1,500, at an auction, etc. The following year, 
the firm being composed of J. D. & W. H. Good- 
pasture alone, imported from the Cerdan (the frontier 
of France and Spain, in the Pyrenees). In this im- 
portation was purchased the jack Great Eastern, whose 
likeness appears in this volume. Later in the fall 
they made a second importation from the same place. 
The next year they made an importation in connection 
with Messrs. Lyles & Parmer of thirty head of Cata- 
lonians and Majorcas. This was the largest importa- 
tion ever made to America up to that time. The fol- 
lowing year the firm again became J. D. & W. H. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 6l 

Goodpasture, when they imported Majorcas, Catalo- 
nians and Poitous to the number of fifty-seven head. 
This stands as the largest individual importation ever 
made to the United States. The present year, 1890, 
they imported twenty head of jacks and jennets — all 
Catalonians. 

In the fall of 1886 Whitworth, Perry, Lester and 
C. C. H. Burton imported twenty head of Catalonians. 
This was an extra good lot. It included Paragon, 
recently sold to George Tarkington, of Danville, Ky., 
for $2,000. The following year Perry & Lester, Bur- 
ton and Frank Lester, Jr., made a most excellent selec- 
tion of Majorcas and Catalonians. There was scarcely 
an inferior jack in the lot. Some of them were large 
and superior jennet jacks. 

The following year the firm became Perry, Lester, 
Knight & Son, the selections being made in Spain by 
William E. Knight and Frank Lester, Jr. This im- 
portation included a colt two years and sixteen days 
old that was sold to Smith Bros., of Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., for $2,000, which, considering age, is the highest 
price ever paid for an imported jack in the United 
States. This jack (King James) is full sixteen hands, 
and has proven to be an extra breeder for jennets. 
There was a number of other good ones in the lot, 
many of them being colts that afterwards developed 
into magnificent jacks. 

The same firm imported again the following year, 
bringing good stock. They sold three half-brothers, 
one yearling and two two-year-olds for $4,500. The 
yearling colt (Spanish King) was sold to Dr. Kird, 
Wm. and R. Davis, all of Wilson County, Tennessee, 
for $1,500. He is developing into a first-class jennet 
jack. 



62 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

Frank Lester, Jr., individually imported a lot of 
Catalonian jacks in 1889. They were a good, even 
lot. 

In 1886 Dr. B. Stone Plumlee purchased two Anda- 
lusian jacks and one jennet, and shipped to the United 
States with the importation of J. D. & W. H. Good- 
pasture. One of these proved to be a great breeder, 
and is in Jackson County, Tennessee. 

Dr. Plumlee imported the following year from 
Malta, the year afterwards from Italy, and in 1889 
from Catalonia. In the last lot was a colt that ranked 
with the best imported. 

In the spring of 1889 Messrs. Lyles & Parmer im- 
ported about twenty jacks and jennets, mostly jennets, 
which they sold at auction at Lexington, Ky. 

In 1889 also Pierce, Burford, Lyles, Parmer and 
others imported a large number of Catalonian jacks. 

In 1890 the same firm, with A. B. Harlan, of Maury 
County, imported from the same place. 

Messrs. Berry & Murray, of Hendersonville, Tenn., 
made importations of Catalonians and Majorcas in 
i887-'88-'89-'90, including King of Inca, and other 
good ones. 

In 1887 a firm of Hebrews in Nashville, Tenn., 
imported a lot of Italian jacks. I think that they made 
two importations that year, and the following year 
imported from Catalonia. 

Messrs. Roth & McClain, in 1889, imported a few 
Italian jacks also. 

In 1887 Messrs. Ezell, Fannin and Burnett made 
an importation of Catalonian jacks. 

In 1889 a gentleman from Putnam County, Ten* 
nessee, a Mr. Young, imported eight or ten Catalo- 
nians. 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 63 

In i889-'90 Moseley, Whitaker & Co., Bellbuckle, 
Tenn., made two importations of Catalonian jacks. 
They were a good average lot. 

There may be, and doubtless are, a few whose im- 
portation is either unknown or has been unintention- 
ally omitted, but there cannot be many such, and we 
feel certain that there have been no very large impor- 
tations omitted. We suppose there have been about 
eight hundred or one thousand imported jacks and 
jennets brought into and around Nashville in the last 
five years. 

If all those who import would confine their pur- 
chases to such stock only as is calculated to improve 
our own native jacks and jennets, Middle Tennessee 
would soon be to the United States what Spain is to 
Europe. The introduction of the inferior Mexican 
and Texan jennets has been a great drawback to the 
progress of elevating the standard of our jacks and 
jennets. 

Before closing this history, we wish to mention the 
efficient services rendered by John Terry (colored), 
who has made several trips to Europe as groom — 
three with J. D. & W. H. Goodpasture, one with 
W. E. Knight & Co., and two with Moseley & Whit- 
aker. John is justly regarded as the champion groom 
on a ship, and has had few accidents to occur to stock 
while in his charge. 

We wish to acknowledge our obligations to our 
efficient secretary, W. H. Goodpasture, for services 
rendered in getting up the history of the late impor- 
tations, $tQ, L. W. Knight, M.D. 



1 



64 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

MARINGO MAMMOTH. 

About the year 1850 the late General A. Wilson 
and my father, the late Captain James Knight, both 
of Marshall County, Tennessee, visited Kentucky, and 
purchased a very superior jennet jack, Maringo Mam- 
moth, in Boyle County. He was taken to Caney 
Spring, in Marshall County, Tennessee, and did busi- 
ness as a strictly jennet jack for a number of years 
at $40 per jennet. My brother, the late General J. M. 
Knight, then of Murfreesboro, Tenn., also had an 
interest in him. I afterwards purchased him at a 
cost of $2,160, and took him to my home, then in 
Rutherford County, Tennessee, and kept him until he 
died. This jack was about four years of age when 
purchased in Kentucky. If my memory serves me 
correctly, he was exhibited at Lexington and Danville, 
Ky., and took premiums over his own class. He was 
also shown at Columbia, Lewisburg, Shelbyville, 
Nashville and Lebanon, Tenn., at all of which places 
he was awarded the first premium. I regarded him 
as the most suitable jack that had ever been intro- 
duced into Tennessee to improve the small-bone stock 
of our state, up to that date. He was about sixteen 
hands high, black, but not a jet black, with white 
points. He had a remarkably large bone, large head, 
large foot and body, heavy like a draft horse, stood 
on and carried his limbs well under him, had good 
action for an animal of his size. He was sired by 
Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky, and he by imported 
Mammoth that was owned by Messrs. Aquila Young, 
and Everett, of Mt. Sterling, Ky. One of Maringo 
Mammoth's dams was called Cleopatra, the others I 
have forgotten. Imported Mammoth did business 



► 

o 
o 

o 

H 

H 




JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 65 

nine years. He was shipped to the United States on 
a sailing vessel, there being no large ocean steamers 
at that time. As was the custom then in shipping 
jacks, he was placed on a swing, and was so heavy 
that he was cut under the arms by the swing and the 
continual rocking of the vessel, which caused a run- 
ning sore perhaps as long as he lived. I am glad 
to say the facilities for shipping stock have greatly 
improved since that day. Imported Mammoth did 
business at $100 per jennet, and his services were re- 
munerative to his owners. 

I have had a most excellent artist, Professor A. C. 
Webb, of Nashville, Tenn., to make a drawing of 
Maringo Mammoth from memory. I wanted my 
stock friends to see a model of a native jack, that had 
been worth perhaps $100,000 to Tennessee — he and 
his descendants. I have succeeded in procuring cuts 
of a number of imported jacks of different species, 
from several countries, and thought it would be well 
to have a cut of an extra good native jack to show 
in my book, and hope I have succeeded in it. Several 
half-brothers of Maringo Mammoth were introduced 
into this state, at a later date, which were great acces- 
sions to the jack and jennet stock of this part of the 
country. L. W. Knight, M.D. 

Dr. L. W. Knight, Nashville, Tenn.: 

My Dear Father: At your request I cheerfully 
submit a very brief sketch of my trip to Europe in 
search of jacks and jennets of such quality as to 
improve our native stock. My brother, W. E. Knight, 
having been three times for the same purpose, was 
somewhat satiated with travel or intimidated by storms 
and floods, having encountered both, and insisted that 



66 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

it was my turn. So securing identification papers and 
all necessary articles I started, in company with the 
late Mr. Herman Roth, who was to be guide, inter- 
preter and companion. He had crossed the Atlantic 
thirty-five times, and could speak twelve languages; 
was familiar with all points of interest, and seemed 
never to tire of showing them to me. 

I bought New York exchange in Nashville, Tenn., 
and carried same to Brown Bros.' banking house on 
Wall Street and bought with it a letter of credit, which 
enabled me to draw money at any city in Europe, so 
numerous were the branch houses. We then looked 
for ship, but found none would leave for Spain within 
ten days, so to save time concluded to take passage 
next day on a French mail ship bound for Havre, 
France. After eight days and nine hours we were 
landed at the beautiful city, some of whose streets 
are paved with water. 

While the object of our trip was jacks and jennets 
we could not miss the opportunity of seeing the many 
sights, so after taking in Havre, we started for Paris. 
In a visit to the zoological garden there I saw the 
skeleton of a whale ninety-two feet long, whose jaw- 
bone was nineteen feet long; and the largest boa- 
constrictors I ever saw — the diameter was not less 
than six inches. The art gallery with its beauties 
charmed by the hour, but time was precious so on 
we went, only to stop and stand in awe at the grandeur 
of Eiffel Tower. Here we were disappointed at not 
being able to ascend, as it was being painted and 
closed to visitors. 

The next point of special interest was Switzerland 
with its most beautiful lake Lucerne, encircled by lofty 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 67 

mountains and romantic scenery. Here we took the 
tourists' boat and rode the entire length, sixteen miles, 
enjoying the whole immensely. Then by lake Como 
on railroad. Then went to Magna Grotto, which is 
3,327 feet above sea level, but the summit of moun- 
tain above this grotto is 10,800 feet above the sea. 
This tunnel is said to be nine miles in length and I 
do not doubt it, for it took the cars considerable time 
to pass through it. The descent makes two circles 
into the side of the mountain to lessen the grade. 

We then turned to the Adriatic seashore in northern 
Italy, and traveled almost parallel with the shore into 
the heel of Italy. Several times we left the cars and 
went into the interior searching for stock, finding 
some good ones. And here let me say it may surprise 
some to know how these people care for their donkeys. 
Very many of the houses are built of stone, and the 
donkey is kept on the first or ground floor, which is 
also of stone. The family occupies the rooms above. 
Barri and Forga are the principal cities visited on the 
Adriatic sea. We spent two weeks at Martino Franka, 
and visited many villages that were used during the 
feudal system, whose watch towers and belfries still 
stand well preserved. Portions of the walls around 
some of these villages are in a good state of preserva- 
tion, whilst other portions have yielded to time. Then 
on to Toranto on the great sea. Thence an all day's 
ride on cars to Naples where we remained one month, 
daily viewing the noted Mount Vesuvius, from the 
city and several times passed by its base, through 
Pompeii. During our stay in Naples we visited all 
the places of interest in the city; the Royal Palace, 
the castle which was built by the Romans, whose base- 



68 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

ment is solid stone and now used for a penitentiary. 
We frequented the beautiful parks on the beautiful 
bay of Naples, where bands spent hours discoursing 
sweet music each afternoon. One day the city was 
awakened into new life by a visit from the king and 
queen of Italy in company with their friends, the 
emperor and empress of Germany, and the crown 
prince of Greece. The ovation tendered them must 
have satisfied their vanity, if not enough to turn their 
heads. The city that once ruled the world (Rome) 
next claimed our attention. The Vatican, the Col- 
losseum, Royal Palace, St. Peter's and St. Paul's 
cathedrals, the Pyramid, the Portal, and the Cata- 
combs each was visited by us and excited wonder 
and admiration. 

Upon going back to Naples we discovered that 
we could get transportation for the twenty-seven jacks 
and jennets that we had purchased, on a Scotch 
steamer bound for New York. So, without delay, we 
began to make ready. Lumber and work on each stall 
cost $10, and was only about thirty-eight inches wide. 
Our stock was taken on board May 16, after paying 
export duty on each animal, and $20 for litter to con- 
vey stock and feed from shore to ship, and happy were 
we at prospect of starting to America. We stopped 
six hours at Gibraltar, taking cattle aboard for slaugh- 
ter. A rope was fastened around their horns and they 
were drawn upon the ship by machinery. They would 
fight the air wildly with their feet, but were landed 
safely on board. In midocean one of our jennets 
foaled, and we named the dark-haired beauty Ocean 
Wave, and he proved to be as restless and energetic 
as the ocean itself. So instead of losing any we gained 



► 

M 

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w 

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> 

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Q 
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JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 69 

one and took delight in nursing the baby colt while 
the ship did the rocking. They, of course, had to be 
watched day and night, but we felt amply rewarded 
for our diligence when arrived at home without the 
loss of one, and all in good condition. They were 
much admired and brought fairly good prices. 

This letter has been very hurriedly written and is 
somewhat disconnected, and many places merely men- 
tioned, that are quite noted, so there may occur some 
errors, for my notes are quite limited, and a lapse of 
almost eight years may cause some little variance in 
memory. Trusting this may in some manner interest 
some who may chance to read it, 

I am your affectionate son, 

James M. Knight. 

December 3, 1901, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 

STARLIGHT PARAGON 

Is black with white points, was twenty-five months 
old when this picture was taken, and is fully fifteen 
hands high, horse measure. He has more length, size 
and bone than most colts of his age. He is heavily 
muscled, is strong and quite active, in fact, he has 
unusual merit. He was shown at the Texas State 
Fair, October, 1901, and took first premium in his 
two-year-old ring, and took second premium in the 
sweepstakes, where there were more than a dozen 
entries from three different states. He is the best colt 
in our knowledge to produce large smooth stock from 
the average jennets of the country, he being large and 
smooth and so well-bred that he cannot breed other- 
wise than well. He is by Lell Jenkins' Starlight, he 



70 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

by old Starlight, he by Bellknap, etc. The late H. C. 
Ezell refused $4,200 for old Starlight. 

Starlight Paragon's dam was by imported Paragon, 
that sold for $2,600. Hence, it will be seen that this colt 
has descended from two of the best families in Ten- 
nessee. Both have taken their share of prizes in show- 
ings. He is the property of Knight & Jetton, Mur- 
freesboro, Tenn. 

Dr. L. W. Knight, Nashville, Tenn.: 

My Dear Father : At your request I write you of 
my three trips to Europe. In March, 1888, I left 
Nashville, Tenn., accompanied by Mr. Frank Lester, 
Jr., and John Terry, colored. Going direct to Wash- 
ington, D. C, we procured our transports in case of 
trouble abroad. Thence to New York, where I con- 
verted the New York exchange into a letter of credit 
with Messrs. Brown Bros, on Wall Street. This 
letter of credit enabled us to draw money at any of 
the leading banks in any city of note. We next went 
to the office of the Cunard line to engage berths on 
the Umbria, a very large and fine vessel, five hundred 
feet in length. This ship was to sail in twenty-four 
hours. In the meantime we took in some of the sights 
in New York, which proved to be quite interesting. 
At the appointed time we went to the ship to take 
passage and bid adieu to the finest country in the 
world, America. In taking the step from the pier to 
the ship I never had such peculiar feelings before 
nor since. It occurred to me that I might be taking 
the fatal step, leaving terra firma to go out on the dark 
blue sea, but as I was representing a strong company 
and all arrangements were made, there was no back- 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 71 

ing out, so on I went. Many had come to bid fare- 
well to friends and relatives. As the great ship started, 
tears and handkerchiefs were in great evidence. All 
this made me feel quite sad. I more fully realized 
that I was leaving a bride of three months at home. 
In a few hours everything assumed its normal con- 
dition. Two days out the waves were rolling high; 
the ladies who had almost lived on deck began to dis- 
appear and did not come out again until the gales, 
lasting three days, had passed. They looked as if they 
had lost their best friend. In the meantime the writer 
was getting considerable experience, often giving vent 
to his feelings feeding the fish. Queenstown, Ireland, 
was our first stop, discharging a few passengers, some 
cargo and mail. This was Friday night, eleven p. m. 
The next day we arrived at Liverpool, at eleven a.m. 
On landing our baggage was examined, which re- 
quired but a few minutes. We left Liverpool imme- 
diately for London, stopping at Charing Cross Hotel, 
too late for supper. We ate at a restaurant across 
the street. Having satisfied our appetite we prome- 
naded, taking in some of the sights of the great city. 
The streets were crowded with people and the cops 
were very conspicuous. Charing Cross is quite a 
large hotel, using stone for floors. Next morning 
we took train for Dover, crossing English channel, a 
distance of twenty-eight miles, to Calais, France. On 
arriving at Dover we were informed that a vessel was 
lost the night before, which is nothing unusual on 
the channel. We consider this the most dangerous 
body of water we ever crossed. From Calais we 
went directly to Paris, the prettiest city we ever saw, 
waiting here a few hours for our train. In Paris we 



72 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

had quite a little experience trying to instruct a 
French cabman where to take us, as he could not 
understand English nor we French. Finally an Eng- 
lishman, taking in the situation, came to our rescue 
and instructed the Frenchman where to take us. 

Leaving Paris we arrived in Bordeaux the next 
morning where our interpreter, Mr. P. Carles, met us 
as instructed. He proved to be quite a pleasant gen- 
tleman. I assure you it was quite a pleasant relief to 
meet him, as we could not speak any language except 
English, therefore, it was difficult for us to get along. 
I asked Mr. Carles where we could buy some good 
jacks. He did not know, but referred us to Mr. 
Ribo Saster, who lived in the Pyrenees Mountains in 
France, near the Spanish line. 

We met Mr. Saster in Toulouse, France. We ex- 
plained our business to him, and asked him if he 
could render the desired assistance to us. He seemed 
to think he was the man we were looking for. His 
services were at once engaged and off we put for 
Barcelona, thence to Vick, which is situated in the 
province of Catalonia. We found a few jacks in the 
town ; after looking at them we hired a cart and driver 
so we could visit the farmers and see their stock. We 
found that in buying the more matured animals there 
was considerable competition, besides they were not 
plentiful, and we began to purchase colts from ten 
months old up. The jacks in Spain are often kept in 
the basement of the dwellings on stone floors. They 
get but little to eat and not much exercise. Their chief 
food is a large, coarse bean, a few shelled oats and 
hay. Owing to this style of treatment we found three 
decided advantages in selecting colts. One was no 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 73 

competition; the second, we got picking choice; and 
the third was, after we got the colts home with proper 
feed and exercise these colts would develop to a much 
higher -degree of perfection, and our expectations were 
fully realized. For example, we sold three half-broth- 
ers ; two were yearlings past and one two-year-old, 
for $4,500. We purchased nineteen head. Most of 
them were quite poor. We had led them over the Pyr- 
enees Mountains into France, stopping at Axe, which 
is about half way down the mountain and a very 
popular watering resort. We remained here twenty- 
four days getting our stock in condition for the long 
voyage. They improved rapidly. At this place Mr. 
Ribo Saster left us, as we were through buying. He 
proved to be an excellent gentleman ; his judgment 
was good and he impressed us as a man of unusual 
energy. He lives at Porta, France. He invited us to 
dine with him, which was a most excellent affair, 
serving twelve courses. It is useless to say how much 
we appreciated this act of kindness from a man that 
we had known but a few weeks. Mr. Saster seemed to 
take a great interest in me. Often at meals he would 
say in broken English, "You no eat, are you seak?" 
Mr. Saster came back to Axe to assist us in loading 
our stock to ship to our sailing point, Bordeaux. As 
we parted tears rolled down his cheeks and he kissed 
me good-bye. We remained in Bordeaux but a few 
days, sailing on the Chateau Lafite, of the Bordeaux 
shipping line. We had a nice smooth voyage, losing 
but one animal, in Jersey City. At this place we rested 
our stock some thirty-six hours. We also made a short 
stop at Covington, Ky., some eighteen hours, thence 
home. Mr. Frank Lester is a big-hearted fellow, 



74 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

always in good spirits. John Terry proved to be a 
most excellent man with stock on board ship. We 
were gone about three months on this trip. 

My second trip was in 1889. I was accompanied 
by Mr. Walter Murray, of Mt. Juliet, Tenn. We left 
Nashville in March, going direct to New York. There 
we were met by Dr. B. S. Plumlee, who made the 
entire trip with us. This time we sailed on the 
Etruria, a handsome vessel of the Cunard line. She 
has made quite a reputation for speed. The Etruria 
is a twin ship to the Umbria. We landed at Liverpool 
and went practically over the same territory as stated 
in former trip. After buying some forty head we 
heard of some jacks seventy miles away up in the 
mountain where it was much colder and very deep 
snow. Dr. Plumlee was complaining of being unw r ell, 
so Mr. Murray and I made the trip, buying nine 
head of good stock. In the meantime Dr. Plumlee 
bought a few individual animals. Having purchased 
in all fifty-six head, Mr. Murray returned to our 
former field of business to assist in collecting, and 
paying for that which we had already purchased and I 
took the nine head to Toulouse, where we met and 
reshipped to Bordeaux, our sailing point. We were 
quite unfortunate this trip, losing twelve head in the 
Atlantic and eight head from New York to Nashville, 
twenty head in all. This time we shipped on second 
deck and did not have sufficient ventilation, which 
produced pneumonia. We used my former inter- 
preter, Mr. P. Carles, and our genial commissioner, 
Mr. Ribo Saster. Had our train been on time we 
would have reached Johnstown at ten a.m., just in 
time for the great flood, but fortunately for us our 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 75 

train was delayed some six hours. We were detained 
at Altoona, Pa., thirty-five miles east of Johnstown, 
some eight days on account of the many washouts on 
railroad. We crossed a number of bridges just before 
reaching Altoona ; several of them were washed away, 
so we made a narrow escape after all. Our home 
people were quite uneasy for some days, as they could 
not hear from us. All communications were cut off 
both by wire and postal, but after all we got in, in 
good shape, minus several jacks. We had a good 
many ups and downs mixed with pleasure. While at 
Altoona we did not go to bed; some of our stock 
were sick and greatly scattered and required attention 
every few hours, consequently there was not much 
rest for the weary. 

My third and last trip was in 189 1. In company 
with Mr. Herman Roth, an Austrian, we left Nash- 
ville, August 19, and sailed on the Saala, of the German 
Lloyd line, direct to Southampton, England, where 
we were to take another vessel for Havre, France. 
But this was twenty-four hours behind time, so we 
took a special for London, where we spent a few 
hours, going direct to Paris. While there we visited 
the Eiffel Tower. It is a wonderful structure, tower- 
ing about 1,000 feet. It required three different eleva- 
tors to ascend to the top. It cost some three or four 
francs to make the trip. We started to go up. After 
reaching the second elevator my friend, Mr. Roth, said 
he had gone far enough. I insisted on his going on 
with me, but to no effect. He said he would remain 
where he was until my return. On reaching the top 
I had a bird's-eye view of the city and surrounding 
country. People looked like children and horses like 



76 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

ponies on the streets. There is a house on this tower; 
in it is a restaurant and some small stores, and one 
could buy most anything except a horse and buggy. 
Leaving Paris we crossed the Alps into Italy. In 
these mountains we saw a beautiful lake. Descending 
we passed through a tunnel that required thirty-three 
minutes to pass through. I suppose this is the long- 
est tunnel in the world. The first city we came to of 
importance was Turin, then to Genoa; reaching there 
at night. This is a city of considerable importance, 
situated on the Mediterranean. It was the birthplace 
of Columbus. We spent a few hours in Rome, where 
we visited St. Peter's Cathedral, which is an immense 
structure, the largest in the world. Joining it is the 
Vatican, where Pope Leo the Thirteenth lives. His 
guards are gaudily dressed. We went to see St. Paul's 
Cathedral, which is two miles out and quite handsome 
and of more modern style. It is considered by many 
the handsomer of the two. On our return to the city 
we saw the Colosseum, which is practically destroyed. 
In the center of the ring is a small stone structure 
where wild animals were kept to kill the worst 
criminals in years gone by. The next city we came 
to was Naples, a city of large proportions ; from here 
we went up into the mountain to buy our stock. We 
purchased seventeen in all. There is some prejudice 
against the Italian jacks, owing to some very inferior 
ones having been imported, but this was pronounced 
by competent judges one of the best all-round impor- 
tations ever brought over. As a rule the Italian jack 
is superior to the Spanish jack in color, bone, foot, 
and constitution, but not altogether so stylish. We 
kept our stock in Naples about two weeks waiting for 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MUIvES 77 

our ship, the steamship California. We sailed from 
Naples through the Mediterranean Sea into the Straits 
of Gibraltar. While stopping at Malaga to coal I went 
ashore to see a bull fight given in behalf of the flood 
sufferers. It was largely attended by both men and 
women, and children. Would estimate the crowd at 
20,000. Six bulls were killed and some twenty horses. 
Bull fighting is the chief sport of Spain. It is anything 
but elevating. Arriving at Gibraltar I went ashore 
with the steward to get some green stuff for our 
stock, but did not succeed in getting much. We 
walked through the city. It is by far the best fortified 
city we have seen. Leaving Gibraltar we encountered 
a storm, going around the Azores Islands, which 
lasted for eighteen days. The question was often 
asked by the passengers who was the Jonah on the 
ship. This storm was something fearful. It seemed as 
if every day would be the last. I have no desire to be 
in another one like this. The Atlantic was said to be 
rougher in October, 1891, than had been known in 
thirty years. We were out in all twenty-four days, los- 
ing one animal. Our ship was reported lost ten days 
before we reached New York. The evening we sailed 
from Naples Mr. Roth was cabled the news of the death 
of his wife, but he failed to get it, which I suppose 
was fortunate for him. He did not learn of her death 
until he reached his home at Lexington, Ky. While 
waiting for our ship at Naples I visited Mt. Vesuvius, 
which is seven miles out. It is plainly seen from 
Naples. It is constantly throwing out great volumes 
of smoke. The crater or mouth of the volcano is 
something like 150 feet square. I went right to the 
crater and heard a fearful roaring noise. The lava had 



78 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

spread out over thousands of acres, often as high as 
fifteen feet. I saw the spot where Pompeii once stood. 
This was the roughest trip we ever experienced. We 
lost but one animal, the others reaching home in good 
condition. There were many places of interest that 
I would like to have visited, but the opportunity did 
not present itself. 

Your affectionate son, 

W. E; Knight. 
December 30, 1901, Nashville, Tenn. 






JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 79 



BREEDS OF JACKS. 

Less is perhaps known of the different breeds of 
jacks and jennets than of any other character of live 
stock. This may be said to be true even in those 
sections in which they are best known, while in many 
sections of our country absolutely nothing is known 
of them. They simply know that a donkey is a don- 
key, and that's the end of it. Now, we conceive it 
to be of the utmost importance that breeders especially 
should make themselves familiar with all the different 
breeds, because there is a vast difference between 
them, not only in appearance and color, but also in 
their value as adapted to our country. If a man 
wants a buggy horse he will hardly buy a Percheron, 
and if he wants to raise the best animal for beef he 
will scarcely invest in the Jersey. He knows of these, 
and need not hesitate as to what breed to buy after 
he has determined upon the purposes for which it is 
to be used. Now, if a man has a herd of jennets, 
too small of bone or too light of body, he ought to 
know what breed is most likely to remedy these de- 
fects in the progeny. If his herd is "off in color," as 
the saying is, then he ought to know what breed is 
most likely to overcome such a defect. 

Although such a thing properly has no place in a 
stud book, it was, nevertheless, thought best to give 
a short but succinct description of all the different 
breeds of jacks in use in this country, because of the 



80 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

popular ignorance above referred to, and because of a 
general lack of literature upon the subject. 

Upon the question of the breeds that have been in- 
troduced into this country, and of their value as 
adapted to it, I can perhaps do no better than quote 
an address read before the East Tennessee Farmers' 
Convention, with such corrections and additions as 
may be thought necessary: 

We find the jack the first animal domesticated by 
man for the puroose of bearing his burdens and trans- 
porting him in his tedious marches and travels. We 
find him mentioned with respect in Genesis; that he 
was carefully bred and reared by King David; that 
he is the only one of the lower animals of which we 
have record to whom was given the divine power of 
speech, which he seems to have used with moderation 
and discretion in a short conversation with Balaam; 
that on him alone was conferred the undying honor 
of conveying our Savior into the proud city of Jeru- 
salem. That wayward son, too, of David — Absalom, 
the Boulanger of the Jews — rode upon a mule beneath 
the ill-fated branch that caught his flowing locks. 

Beside these distinguished honors, I find that in 
other countries, climes, and times they possessed dis- 
tinguished characteristics unknown to our own do- 
mestic ass. That in the mountain fastnesses of Arabia 
they are said to be so fleet of foot that no horse can 
overtake them, even in that country in which the horse 
is described as being as fleet as the wind; that in 
certain parts of Africa their meat is of the most de- 
licious flavor, and was greatly sought after and ap- 
preciated by Roman epicures. He was used, too, in 
ancient times for the same purpose that he is to-day, 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 8 1 

viz. : the propagation of mules ; and, during the Roman 
occupation of Spain, the value of the males for this 
purpose was placed at above $13,000. And this brings 
me to the practical part of my subject — the profit in 
breeding them. 

I think the breeding of all kinds of jacks can be 
made to a certain degree profitable, and I apprehend 
that it would be of more interest to my hearers to en- 
deavor to show in what breed there is the most profit, 
rather than an abstract discussion of the subject of 
jacks in general. And, therefore, I shall, as briefly 
as possible, notice the different races of jacks that 
have been brought to this country, not in the order of 
their importance, but in the order of their importa- 
tion. And I shall endeavor to give a just and fair 
estimate of their value as adapted to our country. 

The first to be imported were from the Cape de 
Verde Islands, and without doubt traced back to the 
Portuguese. They were introduced into Connecticut 
principally, and were used to raise a small and in- 
ferior mule for export to the West Indies. At that 
time jacks could not be imported from Spain on ac- 
count of the Peninsular wars, and, therefore, the 
specimens introduced were of such an inferior kind 
that, as soon as the West India trade died out from 
competition with better animals, the people ceased to 
raise them, and because of their bad start they have 
never commenced again. The same may be said of 
Massachusetts. It is not because of climate, as many 
erroneously suppose. They were, while in the busi- 
ness, just as successful as any other part of the coun- 
try, considering their material. Besides the jack does 
not necessarily come from a warm country; indeed, 
4 



82 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

the reverse may be said to hold good so far as the 
best jacks of Spain are concerned. We have imported 
some of our best jacks, Great Eastern among the 
number, from a point in full view of the eternal snows 
of the Pyrenees, and in bringing them home marched 
them over snow in June. And let those who are en- 
gaged in breeding jacks only think of the enormous 
unoccupied field yet to be supplied with them. The 
demand for them North has already commenced. 
Some of our best sales last year were made to Indiana 
and Illinois, to which points we had never sold before. 
We are constantly in receipt of letters of inquiry from 
Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, California, 
and even far off Vermont. Some two or three weeks 
ago I received a letter from a gentleman in one of the 
Sandwich Islands, Hawaii, who was anxious to in- 
troduce the jack on these rich and fertile islands. The 
possibilities for the trade are beyond computation, and 
a significant fact is that not above two or three states 
now raise a surplus. 

THE ANDALUSIAN. 

Here in Tennessee we have experimented more or 
less — but under the most unfavorable circumstances, 
on account of a lack of organization and a stud book 
— with all the prominent breeds. Those first intro- 
duced were the Andalusians, and reached either 
through Virginia or Kentucky. The king of Spain, 
in 1787, presented to General Washington a jack and 
jennet of this breed. The former was called the 
Royal Gift. About the same time he was presented 
with a Maltese jack by the Marquis 'Lafayette. The 
Maltese jack was crossed on the Andalusian jennet, 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 83 

the result of which was a very famous jack called 
Compound, that proved to be much more popular as 
a breeder than the Royal Gift, which was said to have 
been selected from the royal stud, and was near six- 
teen hands high, but ill-shapen and ungainly. 

Not many years after this, the great orator and 
statesman, Henry Clay, who always had an unbounded 
love for agriculture and live stock, imported into Ken- 
tucky a few Andalusians. No two men of that day 
could have added greater popularity to a particular 
breed — the one, the idol of the whole country, the 
other, the leader of a great party and the nation's 
most distinguished orator ; and hence, every man who 
wanted to experiment with jacks wanted to try this 
particular breed. And the color especially has held 
on so tenaciously that gray jacks are still extremely 
common with us. 

This is one of the most distinctive breeds of jacks 
in existence. They are found in the southern part 
of Spain, embracing the whole of the ancient kingdom 
of Andalusia, and are evidently of an ancient race, for 
we read of them and the profits arising from their 
use in propagating mules during the Roman occupa- 
tion and before the time of Christ. Columella, who, 
in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, published a 
treatise which has been handed down to us on the 
husbandry and economy of the Romans, gives very 
particular directions for breeding jacks and mules. 
He was a native of Cadiz, Spain, owned large estates 
there, and tells us that the best mules were raised in 
that part of the country. 

They are distinctively gray in color, sometimes in- 
deed practically white, but in rare instances black, and 



84 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

even blue ones are to be found. To find one black, 
however, is little in his favor, as he is just as apt to 
breed gray as his brother, who is entirely white. The 
blood is there and will show itself. In height they 
are about the same as the Catalonian; fourteen and 
one-half to fifteen hands. They have a most excel- 
lent leg; the bone is large and firm, and freer than 
are the other breeds from what is commonly known 
as "jack sores," viz. : a running sore that appears on 
the inside of the knee and hock, and which sometimes 
gives a great deal of trouble. They have a fairly 
good head and ear, and are really a good jack. While 
many of them have been imported into this country, 
they have never been popular, chiefly on account of 
their color. In this we believe the people to be right. 
There are other races just as good, and some that we 
think are better, that have the desired color, and the 
progressive breeder should seek the ideal in all things. 

We have heard at least one importer complain of 
their not breeding regularly, but we do not think 
this has been our observation of them. So far as 
we have seen, they are as much to be depended upon 
in this respect as any others. 

The breed is now pretty thoroughly scattered over 
this country, as in addition to those brought over be- 
fore the war, they have been imported in the last few 
years by Mr. Lyles, of Kentucky; Messrs. Good- 
pasture, of Tennessee ; the Messrs. Leonard, of Mis- 
souri ; and in 1889 quite a large importation by a 
firm in Arkansas. 

Their hereditary tendency to gray can only be elimi- 
nated by carefully breeding to one of the distinctively 
black races. We do not think a gray or blue jennet 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 85 

ought ever to be bred to a native jack if a black im- 
ported one can be reached, unless, as is sometimes 
the case, the pedigree of the native can be traced in 
one unbroken line of black stock to the imported black 
breed. I feel safe in saying that a majority of our 
natives at some point in their ancestry, immediate or 
remote, are tainted with an off color. 

THE MALTESE. 

About the best known imported jack in America is 
the Maltese. The older jack men of to-day will re- 
member that as boys they heard a great deal about 
the Maltese jacks. They are at least contemporary 
with, if they do not actually antedate, the Andalusian 
in their introduction into this country. 

Mr. Pomeroy, one of our earliest authorities, how- 
ever, on jackology, says that the Knight of Malta pre- 
sented to General Washington was unquestionably the 
first of his breed to be introduced into this country; 
that the second came in the frigate Constitution, from 
her first cruise in the Mediterranean, and was sold in 
the District of Columbia ; and that not long afterwards 
a number were introduced by officers of the navy, 
from Malta, and that a few very valuable ones were 
brought over in merchant ships. Certain it is that 
they became comparatively well known in this country 
at a very early day, and, until a few years ago, the 
people seemed to know only two breeds — the broad 
term of Spanish and Maltese. 

Mr. Pomeroy says that there is no question but 
that the race is of Arabian origin, more or less degen- 
erated. They are found on an island in the Mediter- 
ranean, very far to the south, and belonging, I be- 



86 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

lieve, to England. The island of Malta is small in 
circumference and exceedingly sterile in soil. Dr. 
Plumlee, who imported from there recently, tells me 
that the soil in no part is more than a few inches in 
depth, and that what there is, is a made soil. A few 
inches below T the surface it is a solid rock. Dr. Plum- 
lee says that the supply of pure-bred jacks there is 
exceedingly limited ; in fact, when he was there and 
bought eight or ten, and as many more jennets, he did 
not leave more than one jack on the island that was 
worth his transportation home. 

They are by nature a smaller jack than any of the 
Spanish breeds, seldom, if ever, going over fourteen 
and one-half hands. The average height of those im- 
ported would not go over fourteen hands, and of 
course they average smaller on the island. 

Dr. Plumlee has his kind of theory as to their size. 
It is that as they are found on an island entirely 
sterile, with little vegetation and inferior grain crops, 
they naturally grew small, but with proper treatment 
in this country, plenty of feed and an abundance of 
pasturage, they will in a few generations attain the 
desired size. 

They are either black or brown in color, the pure- 
bred generally inclined to the latter, have good heads 
and piercing, upright ears, and a great deal of vitality, 
showing an immense amount of vigor during the 
breeding season. They are about the gamest and most 
fiery little jacks that we have, and while some of them 
have good bone and feet, their limbs have always too 
much resembled the thoroughbred horse. 

If we rode jacks to war as the ancients were said 
to have done under Marius, or drove mules to our 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 87 

carriages, as was the custom of the late Queen Isabella 
of Spain, or in chariot races, as was the custom in the 
Olympic games five or six hundred years before 
Christ, then I think the Maltese would be the best, 
perhaps, of any of the breeds. But none of these 
things is what the farmer is after. 

We want a powerful draft animal fitted for either 
the city dray or the cotton or sugar plantation. We 
have now experimented with the breed for over a 
hundred years, and he is found to be wanting. He is 
too small for our purposes. And here I want to men- 
tion a very important question now facing the breeders 
of the country, and especially certain portions of it, 
and which has been made to assume its deserved im- 
portance by the organization of the American Breed- 
ers' Association of Jacks and Jennets, and that is, 
What is the proper or ideal size of the breeding jack 
or jennet? 

There is a small coterie of breeders in Tennessee, I 
hope confined to the middle division, who maintain 
that jennets under fourteen are better breeders than 
jennets over fourteen hands high, and estimate as 
worthless the jennet fifteen hands high or over. I 
am happy to note that the history of the show ring, 
especially in the great breeding districts of Kentucky, 
shows that their ideas have never traveled very far 
away from home, and it is only mentioned because of 
its effects in the particular section, and because it 
was intended as an attack on our rules of entry. 

They say they want no overgrown animals. Now, 
the trouble is that our jennets in Tennessee have at 
no time been big enough. I agree with the man who 
says he wants no overgrown animal. What we want 



88 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

is a big race of jacks. The jack fifteen hands high 
out of the twelve and one-half hand jennet is over- 
grown to a greater extent than is the sixteen hand 
jack from the fourteen and one-half or fifteen hand 
jennet. The experience of these men has been this: 
They own no large jennets, and never did. They 
sometimes, however, get a large jack in spite of the 
smallness of their jennets. This jack is overgrown 
and does not breed up to himself, but reproduces 
the size of his ancestor. And hence they cry aloud 
from the housetops and from the public prints, 
"Don't breed to a big jack/' And they are in a 
measure correct, so far as the big jacks which 
they raised are concerned. But breed a big jack 
to a big jennet, and the issue will have as much 
hardness, style and action, as well as size and the 
power to transmit all these desirable qualities, as will 
the small jack to transmit the qualities of himself. In 
other words, the issue will then be in almost exact 
proportion. When you meet one of these antiquated 
fossils, he thinks he has forever silenced you when 
he asks if you ever saw a sixteen hand jack over ten 
years old. He might just as well ask you if you ever 
saw a jaybird on Friday. Their theory is utterly un- 
tenable. As a race, the big will not produce little, 
nor will the little produce big, and if established as a 
race and not as a phenomenon, the big jack will live 
to just as green an old age as will the little one. The 
Percheron is quite as long-lived as is the Shetland 
pony. Length of life is not measured by the number 
of inches or of pounds. 

Another important consideration that will apply 
with double significance to registration in the stud 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 89 

book is this : It has been the experience and observa- 
tion of mankind for all ages that the offspring in the 
whole of animal life will, to a greater or less extent, 
reproduce the characteristics of one, and sometimes 
of both, their immediate ancestors, and they may even 
have them in a high degree, though the ancestor pos- 
sessing them be generations back. It is likewise the 
observation of the thoughtful that they are quite as 
likely to inherit them from the dam as they are from 
the sire, and some even maintain they are more so. 
Now, may not the colt of the small jennet thirteen 
hands high which produces a jack fifteen and one-half 
hands reproduce in turn the size of his dam? Under 
the rules he is eligible to registry, and pray tell me 
what credit it would be to him to have his thirteen 
hand dam registered. And suppose they are small 
for generations back, would not such registration 
actually detract from his pedigree when the size would 
not otherwise appear? The great army of scientific 
breeders would know at once what to expect of his 
progeny. 

Still another important question in this connection 
is that of money. No one raises jacks for the pure 
and unadulterated love for the business, nor for the 
fun that is in it, nor yet for the glory and honor, but 
for that all-important factor, the amount of money 
they will bring as a reward for the toil, care and labor 
involved. Now, for the benefit of those just starting 
in the business, and for those who believe the world 
reached perfection about the time of their boyhood, 
and that there is now no such thing as progress, I 
will affirm what I can easily prove — that the big jack 
brings the big price, and the little jack the little price. 



$o breeding and rearing of 

This state of affairs has not only existed for some- 
time, but it promises to grow a great deal worse in 
the future. In handling from one or two importations 
each year, this, without exception, has been our uni- 
form experience. Give a man a list of our sales, and 
he can almost grade the size of the animal by the 
price. I never knew a jack to bring a large price if 
under fifteen hands high, and I never knew one to 
bring a very large price if under fifteen and one-half 
hands. This is not only our own experience, but our 
observation in sales of above 200 head each year. 
The best and most profitable trade is in what are 
termed jennet jacks, and these must in all cases be 
large. There is a large demand for such animals. 

THE CATALONIAN. 

The next breed to make its appearance in this coun- 
try was the Spanish Catalonian. 

After Henry Clay's importation of Andalusians, his 
son was, I believe, made consul-general to Spain. In 
any event, he was sent there in the consular or diplo- 
matic service, and while there sent to his father's 
Kentucky home an excellent specimen of this breed. 
So much pleased was Mr. Clay with the jack that a 
year or two later he imported from the same place 
a number of others. A picture of one of these orna- 
ments one of the rooms in the old homestead at Ash- 
land. 

A few were also imported at this early day into 
Virginia. Mr. Franklin and others imported to Mid- 
dle Tennessee long before the war, and purchased 
another importation that had been landed at Charles- 



3 



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JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 91 

ton, S. C. This breed has always been popular, and 
justly so. For the propagation of mules of a certain 
quality they are unsurpassed, and those who are en- 
gaged in rearing them need never fear but that the 
demand for them will be active and the prices remun- 
erative. They have many valuable qualities, and among 
these is that of color. Browns, or rather, sunburned 
blacks, are frequently seen, but the majority have a 
very glossy, jet-black coat of short hair that is greatly 
sought after. Besides they are a jack of good height, 
varying from fourteen and one-half to fifteen hands, 
in rare instances reaching sixteen hands. While they 
have not a large bone, it is a very flat, clean one. Our 
Kentucky brethren object to them chiefly on the 
ground that their bone is not large enough; but, I 
think, this objection would disappear after a few gen- 
erations on our rich blue grass soil. 

There are few gray jacks in Catalonia. During nu- 
merous trips there I have never seen more than two 
or three, and these had doubtless strayed in with 
their owners from some province farther south. They 
have been thus bred for ages, and this fixedness of 
color constitutes a point of much merit in the breed, 
and is one of the chief reasons why I should prefer 
breeding a jennet to them than to our native stock. 
Our jennets in this country are very diverse in color. 
Grays, blues and mouse-colored are quite numerous. 
There is no way of so quickly eradicating these off- 
colors as by the cross indicated. 

It is a law of nature that a color that has been true 
for ages in an animal will reproduce itself in a cross 
with stock lacking in pure breeding. The Cleveland 
bay horse that is stood to a neighbor's mares of varied 



92 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

hues will show about ninety per cent of bay foals. 
It is not uncommon to see grade Holsteins so per- 
fectly marked as to be undistinguishable from the 
pure breed. Even though the native jack be black, he 
may not transmit that color — they are quite as apt to 
transmit the color of their ancestry, though it be for 
generations back. 

The Catalonian is a jack of great style and beauty 
and of superb action, and many are being used in our 
best jennet herds. I think they are chiefly responsible 
for the black cross in our native stock. A great num- 
ber of them are being imported, and I think they will 
continue the history of their successful past. They 
derive their name from the section of country in 
which they are found, this being the northern part of 
Spain, embracing all the departments known as Cata- 
lonia. It covers some hundreds of miles in area, ex- 
tending from the Mediterranean coast to the French 
side of the Pyrenees, taking in what is known as the 
. Cerdan, which lies both in France and Spain. Al- 
though they are found in both countries, they are still 
found only in the mountains of the Pyrenees. They 
are scattered all over the south of France, bordering 
the mountains about Toulouse, Tarbes, Pau and else- 
where. These were, nevertheless, born in their moun- 
tain fastnesses of the Pyrenees, and were imported as 
colts to take their places in the stud when they be- 
came sufficiently old. Many of our best Catalonian 
jacks that have been imported from France were thus 
introduced. 

The supply of good jacks in this territory — the 
Pyrenees — is limited and almost exhausted by the 
large and increasing importations to America. When 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 93 

they were being imported before the war it was at- 
tended by great difficulty and danger, public con- 
veyances and modes of travel difficult, railroads un- 
known, and society in a rather unsettled condition. 
Spain was the last of the countries to become safe 
and pleasant to travel in, and her mountains, extend- 
ing all over the country, north and south, east and 
west, afforded admirable places for sheltering brig- 
ands and robbers. It is a large country, but one can 
hardly find any part of it that is not in full view of 
a tall mountain peak, covered by eternal snow. 

The jack had to be brought home in sailing vessels, 
steamers not then being in use. These were slow and 
unfitted for the transportation of live stock, unlike 
our splendid modern steamers, brought about by the 
immense importations and exports of horses, cattle, 
etc. When old Mammoth was imported he had to be 
swung most of the way, which cut into his flesh, I 
am told, until it was feared his wounds would prove 
fatal. 

Since the war, with improved facilities, a great 
many have been imported to this country, and espe- 
cially to Tennessee, from which point they have been 
scattered all over the jack territory of the Union. 
Those imported are usually from fourteen and one- 
half to fifteen hands high, though smaller ones have 
been imported, and some that were considerably 
larger, in a few rare instances going above sixteen 
hands. 

The large bone of the Kentucky jack is well known, 
and is perhaps given by their unsurpassed limestone, 
blue grass soil. But the Catalonian jack in his bone, 
we think, is more devoid of fleshy and it is perhaps of 



94 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

a finer texture than our native stock, as is the case 
of the thoroughbred compared to the other breed of 
horses. They make, therefore, an admirable cross 
for our native jennets. The imported jennets of this 
breed may likewise be profitably crossed with the 
native of proper color and pedigree, avoiding in the 
selection those in any way related to an off-color. 

For style and action they are possibly unequaled, 
certainly not surpassed, by any other race. This is 
noticed with great force, too, in the case of jennets. 
Our native jennet stock are proverbially dull and 
lazy; they move about in the most composed manner, 
with an entire lack of appreciation of modern ideas of 
"get up and go." Such a thing as playing in pasture 
or paddock is far beneath their sense of dignity and 
decorum, yea, even childlike. Age fastens upon their 
feelings and spirits long before they reach the re- 
sponsibilities of being matrons or mistresses. But 
the imported will play and run about their lot like 
a colt, and some of them can trot like an embryo 
Sunol or Maud S. We remember one occasion, when 
we were driving in a carriage on a government road 
in France. Our team was a spirited pair of Tarbes 
horses, with a great deal of the Oriental Arabian 
blood coursing through their veins. Our driver was 
no less spirited — a defeated son of France in their late 
clash with Germany, but who had still enough spirit 
left to try to pass everything on the road. We saw 
ahead of us, driving at a smart gait, a man in a two- 
wheeled vehicle with a fine looking jennet hitched 
to it. We were at that time buying a few jennets, 
and ordered our driver to overtake what promised 
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JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 95 

man, however, refused to be overtaken, and we drove 
a full half mile at the limit of our speed before we 
could come alongside of him. It is needless to say- 
that we purchased the jennet, but the amusing feature 
of it was that we had purchased the same animal the 
day before. When rigged up and at full speed in a 
race there was enough difference to cause us to fail 
to recognize her, though my father said he thought 
she favored one a good deal that he bought the day 
before. 

One rarely sees a droop-eared one among them, 
and when one does, it generally has some physical 
cause, such as a hurt in shipping, disease, or some- 
thing of the kind. 

This race are most excellent breeders, as they have 
proven in all the jack producing states. Their mules 
are handsome, quick, active and good sellers, and we 
have heard it said, though we do not know how this 
is 9 that they mature very early. 

All those breeders whose stock run back in their 
pedigree to the imported ought to state of what breed 
they were imported. A man with a jennet would 
not want to breed to a jack running back to the 
Andalusian, because if she had any disposition that 
way anyhow she would be pretty apt to throw a gray 
colt, whereas, if bred to one running back to the Cata- 
lonian, he would most likely overcome such disposi- 
tion toward gray. 

THE MAJORCA. 

One of the popular breeds of jacks that have been 
imported in the last few years is the Majorca. They 
are undoaabtedly the largest jacks that have been im- 



96 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

ported, and have been much sought after for jennet 
purposes. Their bone is exceedingly large, with a 
body to correspond. They are black and rarely have 
that glossy color so admired in the Catalonians, but 
those I have seen brought to this country will average 
almost, if not quite, a hand taller than the latter. In 
Europe they rank about the same, both being re- 
garded as superior to the Andalusian. We have im- 
ported all three, and I judge of their rank by their 
price in Spain. 

Majorca, the largest of the Balearic group of 
islands, and the one on which these jacks are prin- 
cipally found, is the richest and most productive part 
of Spain. Although it is an island, I class it with 
its continental mother, because of its proximity and 
close communication, and because the jacks there 
have fallen into the general category of Spanish. It 
is necessary to irrigate the greater part of the island, 
but the rich luxuriance of its grass and grain crops 
gladdens the eye and cheers the heart. I think this 
is a full explanation of the size of their jacks. This 
leads me to believe that here in America, by means 
of our generous system of feeding and unexcelled 
pastures, and with careful and scientific breeding, we 
can succeed in a few years in propagating a race of 
jacks of whatever size and form desired, provided al- 
ways that we commence with the proper foundation. 
Majorca, Kentucky, and even Tennessee, illustrate 
the fact that we can give them an increased size. The 
poor and sterile plains of Algiers, Africa, have ex- 
actly the opposite effect of our own rich and alluvial 
soil. We imported a jennet from there a few years 
ago, fully mature, and she was little above nine hands 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 97 

high. It has doubtless taken generations to produce 
an animal in such miniature, but the final effect is 
none the less inevitable. Nothing will aid the en- 
deavor to create the best jacks in the world here so 
much as the late organization of the American 
Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets. By 
means of it we need not necessarily breed our stock 
to the overgrown jack. A careful perusal of the 
stud book will reveal to us jacks that are large be- 
cause their size is inherited, and if our jennets should 
be materially deficient in any especial point, then from 
this list or race of big jacks let the breeders select 
the one strongest and most perfect in such deficient 
point. And when such an animal is found do not 
hesitate to breed to him regardless of distance or sea- 
son fee. By such breeding we can raise up a race 
such as the French have done, in which there are no 
really cheap or inferior animals. They will be good 
breeders because they have good breeding. 

The Majorca is not destined to cut any great figure 
in this country. Their numbers are too limited, and 
there is no way in which to greatly augment it. The 
island from which they are imported is small and has 
been literally stripped of its meritorious animals. 
What few have been brought to this country are now 
scattered to the four winds of heaven. No jennets 
have been imported, and in a few years there will not 
be a pure-bred Majorca in this country, and except 
for the stud book their name would be only one of 
history. They have not been in this country long 
enough to fully demonstrate their worth, but I am of 
the opinion that they will rank fully up to the Cata- 
lonian for mules, and, for a large class of our jennets, 



98 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

surpass them. Their power of reproduction is 
strongly illustrated by the fact that the Spanish gov- 
ernment obtains the greater part of her artillery 
mules from Majorca. And some of these were also 
obtained a few years ago by the English government 
for transport service in Egypt and elsewhere. 

As to height, those brought to this country will 
average about fifteen and one-half hands. They are 
more uniform in size than the Catalonian, and we 
believe them to be, all things considered, the largest 
jacks in existence. 

A good many of the breed have been imported into 
South America, and at prices that astonished me 
when I first learned them. Two sold there a few 
years ago are reported to have gone at the price of 
$900 each, which, if all expenses are added, makes a 
pretty good figure for a country considered by us so 
far in the rear of North American civilization. 

Their heads and ears are enormous and inclined to 
a bulky appearance. While they have the longest 
and largest ears of any other race they are not so erect 
and piercing as the Catalonian, nor have they the 
style and action of this breed; in fact, they may be 
said to incline to sluggishness. 

If the Catalonian be likened to the French coach 
horse or the Cleveland bay, the Majorca would be a 
Percheron or a Shire. 

There is certainly no purer race of jacks in Spain 
than the Majorca. As far back as 1825 Mr. Pome- 
roy, in an essay before the Maryland Agricultural 
Society, said: "So much have been the ravages of 
war and anarchy in Spain for a long time past that 
the fine race of jacks that country once possessed has 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 99 

become almost extinct. In Majorca, however, and 
probably some parts of the coast of Spain opposite, 
the large breed may yet be obtained in its purity. ,, 

It is easily understood why the race should be the 
purest of any of the Spanish breeds. The line divid- 
ing Andalusia and Catalonia is an imaginary one, 
and along the border there is necessarily a more or 
less commingling of the breeds among the people, 
who at no time have given their time and attention 
to scientific or even very careful breeding; and of 
course a large part of both countries must be effected 
by the kind of stock bred by the other. This is all 
the more probable, too, as no value whatever is placed 
upon color. They like a white just as well as a black, 
and would not reduce a dollar on a jack if he should 
happen to be green. But Majorca is an isolated island 
two or three hundred miles from the coast of Spain, 
and is inhabited by a people satisfied to do as their 
fathers did before them, and who likewise, as is often 
the case, think that what they have is better than what 
anyone else has. It is hardly likely, therefore, that 
they would go to the expense of bringing across the 
seas any foreign blood. As a rule the jack breeders 
of Spain are not a class who have the means to im- 
port, or the information that would lead to it. 

To our people — I mean those engaged in the stock 
breeding business — their lack of information is as- 
tonishing to the last degree. Go to a progressive 
breeder in this country, of whatever kind of stock, 
and he can give with a fair degree of accuracy the 
location and, perhaps, the ownership, of the larger 
half of his kind of stock in the state. But in Spain 
one section is as profoundly ignorant of what is in 

LOFC. 



IOO BREEDING AND REARING OF 

another section as he is of the Fiji Islands or Stan- 
ley's "Darkest Africa." 

THE ITALIAN. 

It is not necessary to say very much about the jacks 
of Italy, but a good many have been imported lately, 
and it seems proper that the people should know 
enough of them not to be led away by the seductive 
term, imported, and who at the same time will not 
discredit all jacks because they are imported. 

They are found almost everywhere in Italy, where 
little or no attention is paid to the breed. They are 
principally used for packing purposes, and are the 
smallest of any of the breeds imported. The moving 
cause of their importation was their cheapness. They 
were bought for a song, and in most cases had to 
be sold for another song, with little or no profit to 
the dealer. For this reason we have perhaps seen the 
last of them. 

Occasionally they may be found to reach fourteen 
hands, but they rarely, if ever, get to be taller than 
this. Those brought to this country, and they were 
the pick of Italy, ranged from about thirteen to four- 
teen hands, were generally black (though grays are 
not uncommon), and had rather large bones and good 
weight of body. Many of them were practically use- 
less as mule jacks, having doubtless been raised up 
with jennets. We saw a five-year-old that was im- 
ported into Tennessee that positively refused under 
any circumstances to fall in love with a mare, and 
that ran out in the pasture with a herd of jennets 
without harm either to him or them. I .saw another 
lot of four or five, only one of which could be in- 




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JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES IOI 

duced to fulfill the end for which nature seems to 
have adapted them, and that only after a long and 
tedious use of a jennet. For the mare herself he 
cared no more than he did for the negro groom who 
held her. This is all the more unfortunate, because 
they are entirely too small to use with jennets. 

We have heard it said, though we are not willing 
to vouch for its accuracy, that they have not proven 
themselves in this country to be satisfactory breeders. 
We are rather inclined to think that with a mare of 
merit they would sire a fairly good but small mule. 
We have seen a few carloads of handsome little mules 
from Italy, ranging from fourteen to fourteen and 
one - half hands, and of good form and color. We 
know nothing of the class of mares producing them. 

I believe them to be inferior to, but at the same 
time descended from, the Maltese. They have many 
points of resemblance, and are sufficiently close to- 
gether for such to be the case; or else the Maltese 
may be descended from the Italian. 

I will add, in conclusion, that sometimes they are 
quite vicious (this is one of the points of resem- 
blance), and in one instance, to our personal knowl- 
edge, a groom was hurt by one of them by being so 
severely bitten on the arm as to confine him to his 
bed for some weeks. It is our observation that small 
jacks are more apt to develop vicious propensities 
than large ones, but it will do to keep one's eyes open 
on any of them. 

THE POITOU. 

The last of the distinctive breeds of jacks to be 
imported to this country were the Poitou. Their 



102 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

early history is most entertaining. They are to be 
found in what is known as the granary of France — 
in the richest and most fertile part of that most fertile 
of all countries. They are found throughout the 
province of Poitou, but more especially in the de- 
partments of La Vendee and Deux-Sevres. In olden 
times (they are mentioned in French literature as 
early as 1016) France was not divided up as now 
into small farms and plantations, but wa£ owned in 
large bodies by rich lords and noblemen. These had 
their tenants by the hundreds, and most of them kept 
a number of live stock, especially a few mares for 
farm work, etc. On account of the price of good 
jacks and the cost of labor, etc., in standing them, 
it became the custom of the proprietors to provide 
this for their tenants. Europe was at that time in 
continual war, and this required vast armies in the 
field; consumption of agricultural products was enor- 
mous, the profits of the farm great, but tenants to 
till it scarce. The tenant, therefore, having a choice, 
naturally selected the place offering the greatest in- 
ducements. An important one of these was the 
breeding animals, and hence among these rich land- 
lords there was much rivalry as to the merits of their 
different studs; and being in command of large 
wealth and abundant leisure, their breeding estab- 
lishments, even at an early day, reached the highest 
degree of perfection attainable by the lavish expendi- 
ture of money and the most careful and scientific 
breeding. Perhaps this may account for the univer- 
sally high esteem in which the French Poitou jack is 
held all over the southern part of the continent of 
Europe. No jacks are used in the north. This was 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 103 

their start, and for all these years the constant and 
unabated care of their breeders has been to maintain 
their distinctive characteristics, the purity of their 
blood, and to augment their merits. Only think of 
what may be accomplished by man in the course of 
a few centuries with the proper effort! 

In 1866 Mr. Eugene Ayrault, of Niort, France, 
published a volume on the Poitou jack. I am sorry 
that it has never been translated. It is a book of 
high order of merit, and was awarded a gold medal 
by the Society of Agriculture in France. I would 
prefer giving his to my own description of these 
jacks, because he is the best obtainable authority on 
this subject. He says: 

"His head is enormous in size, and is very much 
larger than that of any other race in existence. His 
mouth is smaller than that of the horse; teeth small, 
but the enamel exceedingly hard. The opening of 
the nostril is narrow, the ear very long, and adorned 
with long, curly hair, called cadanette, which is much 
esteemed by breeders. 

"It is said that animals with the longest bodies pro- 
duce the best mules, and this is greatly looked to. 
The tail is rather short, and furnished with long hair 
at its extremity only. The chest is very broad, and 
the belly voluminous. The shoulders are short; the 
muscles of the forearm long, but not very thick. 
The knees are exceedingly large, as are all the joints. 
The chestnuts, or horny places near the knees, are 
large and well developed. The abundance of hair 
which covers the jack constitutes one of the most 
sought-for qualities. The animals are called well- 
taloned and well-moustached when they have these 
qualities in a high degree. 



104 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

"The mane is long and fine, the skin smooth, the 
hair fine and silky in texture. We give great pref- 
erence to large feet, for which this breed is noted. 
The skin is almost universally black or dark brown. 
The gray jack, though seldom met, is rejected by 
good mule breeders. The animals which have the 
end of the nose black and whose bodies are wholly 
of this color are said to be lacking in breeding. The 
skin and coating of the jack is very important, and 
it is thought that the mules from a jack superior in 
this respect mature earlier." 

Such is Mr. Ayrault's description of them. I will 
add that these jacks are physically the most power- 
ful of any race in existence ; they have greater weight 
and more bone and substance generally. They are 
not exceedingly tall, their legs being extremely short, 
but in a cross with a mare of fair size the mule will 
be found to have all the height desired. The first 
impression one gains of a Poitou is not a favorable 
one. They are never trimmed or groomed in Poitou, 
and we are not accustomed to their long hair and 
bulky appearance. It gives them the appearance of 
being too short in the neck and ear; but this is a 
matter of education. 

The demand for these jacks is such that it cannot 
be supplied, and even French breeders in certain parts 
of the country are forced to use the Catalonian and 
Majorca, though they acknowledge the superiority 
of the Poitou. Their price is enough to stagger one. 
Mr. Ayrault says that $1,000 to $1,200 is ordinary, 
while $2,000 for a single animal is not uncommon. 
I am in receipt of a letter from a friend of mine in 
France, who writes me that a three-year-old Poitou 






JACKS, JKNNETS AND MUXES 105 

that was exhibited at the late Paris Exposition was 
sold to a South American gentleman for the sum of 
$3,200. In our own limited experience there we have 
been made to pay as high as $1,500 for a two-year-old 
colt. 

Without disparaging the merits of any other breed, 
for we have the sincerest admiration for some of 
them, the fact remains that the mules from the Poitou 
are the largest, heaviest and best to be seen in Europe. 
I may add, too, that this is accepted as a fact in all 
mule breeding countries of the continent. 

A very large number of Poitou mules are imported 
each year to Spain, notably to their chief city, Bar- 
celona, where they outsell their own native stock. 
The large firm of San Marti & Sons have been thus 
importing to that city for years. They supply mules 
both to the government and to individuals. The 
senior member of the firm has assisted in the purchase 
of some of the best jacks that have been imported to 
this country from Catalonia. For heavy work he 
has expressed the opinion to the writer that the Poitou 
mules were unequaled by any race of horses or any 
other breed of mules. It is true that the mares found 
in Catalonia are not everything that could be desired. 
They are, perhaps, better in the south of Spain, but 
hardly the thing yet for mule breeding, being Spanish 
barbs, perhaps introduced by the Moors when in pos- 
session of the country, and continental importations 
from the Orient. Hence the mules, while they are 
handsome and active, lack the weight and body re- 
quired. 

The mares to be found in Poitou are neither the 
Norman draft nor the Percheron, but are a large, 






I06 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

broad-backed, heavy-bodied, powerful race that seem 
especially adapted to mule breeding. The test of the 
jack breeds, therefore, is in France. The Poitou, as 
has been before mentioned, are not sufficient in num- 
ber to fulfill the demand in their own country, and 
hence there are hundreds of the Spanish jacks im- 
ported there for use in the stud. We have seen the 
Poitou and the Catalonian in the same establishment — 
the owner possessing the very best specimens of the 
latter. The Poitou here fairly maintains his ascen- 
dancy, and his mules outsell the Spanish breed. 

The Count of Exea, who maintains at Tournay the 
most magnificent breeding establishment that we have 
ever visited, keeps two very remarkable specimens 
of this breed for use solely on his own mares. One 
of them is fifteen and one-half hands, and the other, 
a three-year-old past, is fifteen and three-quarters 
hands. This is a remarkable height for the breed, 
as they usually range from fourteen and one-half to 
fifteen hands, rarely growing taller. The fifteen and 
one-half hand jack was so immense in all his pro- 
portions that we measured his knee, hind hock, belt, 
length of ears, etc., in order to see if our vision was 
deceived by appearances, and after we had left and 
applied the measure to other animals we concluded 
that both our eyes and tape were wrong, so huge did 
his measure appear. The count says he gave $2,000 
for this jack, and upon our inquiring of him how 
he could afford to keep so valuable an animal for 
mares only, he carried us into his barn — a grand 
structure that has cost a mint of money — and there 
showed us about one hundred and fifty mule colts, 
one and two years of age. When I saw the mules 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 107 

I could readily see how he could afford to use the 
jack. Owning all the mules, twenty-five or thirty 
dollars on the head, is an easy demonstration of how 
a man can afford to use the best jack obtainable, re- 
gardless of the money he costs. An easier query 
would be how could he afford to use an inferior or 
even an ordinary one, his capital enabling him to 
obtain the best. 

The count also had some jennets, but because they 
were of kin, or because he was afraid of their effect 
on the jack, or because he thought he knew of one 
that would nick better with them, he did not breed 
to his own jacks but shipped them to M. Sago's, near 
Niort, France, a distance of at least one hundred and 
fifty miles. 

I mention these things only because I hope they 
may be of value in teaching two important truths 
and eliminate at least one popular error. One is, 
that you cannot get a jack too good for mule breed- 
ing. For this purpose many think that one jack, if 
he is a fair, looker, will do about as well as another 
or a better one. But the true theory is, get the best 
if you can, and in breeding mares the difference in 
the value of the colt, between a good and a bad sire, 
will be perhaps three or four times the difference in 
price of service fees. 

Another lesson is, that in this country, where is 
raised the finest and best jack stock on earth, or if 
that is contradicted, it can be said without fear of 
successful contradiction, the highest priced jack stock 
on earth, the people do not hesitate to ship hundreds 
of miles to breed their jennets to that animal that 
suits them best, even though they may have good 



108 BREEDING AND REARING OF 

ones at home. The general rule in America is to 
breed to the one most convenient. 

It may be of interest in this connection to note the 
value of the mule business in Poitou. I have no 
statistics later than 1866, since which time the coun- 
try has prospered, and this business has increased 
in equal or greater proportion to others. This prov- 
ince is hardly larger than one of our American coun- 
ties, and we do not mean a Texas county, either, and 
yet in the year 1866, fifty thousand mares were bred 
to jacks, and the yearly export of young mules 
amounted to between two and three millions of dol- 
lars. This industry there, for profit, is without an 
equal in agriculture. 

I will add, that the French were the first in the 
field to establish a jack stock stud book, and the 
Poitou are the only breed having their own distinctive 
stud book, in which no other breed is eligible to enter. 
It has been established some years, and the rules 
governing entries are stricter than those of our 
American organization. Like ours, gray animals are 
not eligible. A thing that is superior to the Amer- 
ican book is this : No test is made of height, but a 
complete committee examines each animal sought 
to be registered ; this committee passes upon the jack 
and recommends or condemns, upon his merit and 
pedigree alone. He might be sixteen hands high 
and yet reflect no credit upon the organization, not- 
withstanding a good pedigree and color ; or he might 
be lower than the average good jack and yet be so 
superior in weight, bone, form and style as to place 
him in the first rank of breeding jacks. But to fol- 
low this plan requires money, a thing with which a 



JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 109 

new society is never burdened. This committee re- 
gards many other things of equal importance to 
height, and pedigree is made to play a much more 
important part than with us. 

As confirmatory of what I have said of this breed, 
I note the following from A. B. Allen, in the New 
York Tribune, and copied in the Farmer's Home Jour- 
nal, of Louisville. After speaking of other breeds, 
and their introduction into this country, he says : 

"The Poitou is the most perfectly formed of all 
American jacks imported; not so tall as the Majorca, 
but more powerful for his inches, with greater weight, 
more bone and superior muscle. The ordinary stock 
is held in France at $1,000 to $1,500 each, and the 
choicer ones command $2,000 to $3,000. The prices 
are so high as to almost forbid importation. His 
mules are unequaled, and sell on an average from 
fifty to one hundred per cent higher than the get of 
any other jack. This makes it profitable to breed 
from him, even at the high price he costs. The breed- 
ers of Poitou have a stud book for the record of their 
stock, so there can be no mistake as to purity. Their 
mules which I saw in Switzerland were the finest 
and most powerful of any class that has come under 
my observation. I was informed that their French 
dams were of the Percheron or common farm stock 
or their grades, which helped to give to their off- 
spring greater size and power, together with superior 
form. There are large numbers of mares now in the 
United States, half and three-quarter grades of the 
French, Scotch and English breeds of draft stallions. 
These mares, in size and quality, are equal to the 
French, and may be bred to jacks with great ad van- 



no 



BREEDING AND REARING OF 



tage. Their mules would be heavy enough for the 
heaviest farm and road work, and some few single 
ones would be able to pull alone in a city dray, or a 
pair of them the heavy four-wheeled city trucks. I 
am confident that as soon as such mules could be 
placed in market they would be of quicker sale, and 
at higher prices than horses, for they are less liable 
to disease, hardier, longer-lived, and, it is contended, 
consume less food for the work done. Our breeders 
should not hesitate to go into this business to the full 
extent of their ability, for they could not probably 
be able to produce mules enough to meet the demand 
even at high prices for fifty years." 

PERFECTION. 



Perfection was foaled May 2J> 1891. He has the 
finest bone, head and ear of any colt we known — Roman 
head, finest of style ; and took all the premiums in her 
class at the many Middle Tennessee fairs, to wit : Mur- 
freesboro, Columbia, Lewisburg, Fayetteville, and 
Pulaski ; and a number of other fairs in Kentucky. She 
has never entered a ring without a ribbon. She has 
been exhibited twenty-five times and took twenty-five 
blue ribbons. She took the premium at the World's 
Fair, Chicago, in 1893, also at the State Fair, at Nash- 
ville, 1893. Is in foal to Day Star (22). She is pro- 
nounced by jack men to be the best colt ever seen in 
Middle Tennessee. Sired by Long Tom, fifteen hands, 
three inches ; he by Ezell's Big Tom, Jr. ; he by F. R. 
Rains' Big Tom, Sr. ; he by McGavock Bossy ; he by 
Imp. Black Forrest, Long Tom's first dam by F. R. 
Rains' Black Mammoth, and she out of an imported 



2 W 

133 3 

S. H 

1 o 




JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MULES III 

jennet. Lecona dam the dam of Old Starlight by 
Ezell's Big Tom, Jr., his dam Ezell's Old Ann. Per- 
fection's first dam is a fourteen hand jennet, sired by 
Free Dave, known as the Snell jack; her dam by Dr. 
Knight's Knight Errant, and her dam was Mammoth. 
Price $1,250. 

The above jennet, Perfection, is owned by Messrs. 
I. W. and J. L. Jones, proprietors of Daisy Stock 
Farm, and registered jacks and jennets, Maury 
County, Tennessee. Persons wishing to exhibit stock 
at the World's Fair at St. Louis, Mo., in 1903, can con- 
fer with Hon. J. L. Jones, Sr., Columbia, Tenn., who 
is one of the executive committee, and will represent 
the interests of the South in jacks, jennets and mules. 



[The author regrets his inability to procure photo- 
graphs of the Andalusian, Maltese and Italian jacks 
for this book.] 



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